Banking & Financial Services

Our Banking & Financial Services practice, which is the largest of the sector and the only one dedicated specifically to regulatory aspects, represents a wide range of domestic and foreign banks, investment firms and other regulated financial sector professionals (including, without limitation, PFS, payment institutions, electronic money institutions and virtual asset service providers), in all types of contractual and regulatory questions and matters.

Our range of unmatched expertise covers hence all types of banking, financial and contractual law as well as regulatory needs that such clients are confronted with on a daily basis in their business (be it in terms of prudential supervisory aspects, professional secrecy, CRD/CRR, BRRD, ESG, MiFID II, PSD II, EMD II, MiCA, DORA, AML/CFT, just to mention a few).

Our lawyers are proud of being able to assist our distinguished client base, more specifically for the following services:

• Market entry queries;
• Licensing and/or authorisation applications;
• Passporting notifications;
• Shareholder change applications;
• Management body and key function holder applications;
• All other governance related aspects;
• Outsourcing notifications;
• Digitalisation projects
• Legal advice and advisory services in any of the above areas;
• Legal assistance in all dealings of our clients with the regulator and other competent authorities;
• All customer related aspects, including the drawing up or review of contractual documentation;
• Legal assistance in relation to insolvency, liquidation, recovery and resolution of banks and all other financial sector professionals.

Our team has a market leading expertise in business transfer, asset purchase and finally also merger and acquisition transactions involving all financial sector professionals.

We also handle all types of banking and financial sector litigation including fraud and crisis management, and we assist our clients also in pre-litigation procedures before the financial sector supervisory authority, the Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier (CSSF). Our services range also covers the preparation for and assistance throughout onsite inspections and dawn raids.

We maintain a very close relationship with the relevant authorities through our presence in various committees, forums or other bodies of the CSSF and the Luxembourg Bankers Association (ABBL), and through other dealings with the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Justice, notably our active involvement in the legislative drafting process.

Our Banking & Financial Services team also works hand in hand with Arendt Regulatory & Consulting S.A., which offers such client base (in addition to the firm’s legal assistance) regulatory compliance support and consultancy services on more practical, operational and processual aspects of their business and operations.

This complementary approach, which is unique in Luxembourg, offers our clients the most effective (one stop shop) approach in solving their issues and thus covers the entire value chain in their dealings with regulatory aspects.