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Financial Institutions

Industry leading expertise in the financial sector

Advising the biggest players in the financial industry

Within the quickly moving financial sector, you need a team that can help you stay ahead of the challenges that banks, insurances and other financial institutions face. Growing or changing regulations affecting the industry require an increased focus on compliance. The large variety of competitors, coupled with changes in consumer behaviour, demand the development of innovative products by all market players.

We are familiar with the modern technological environment and you benefit from our experience in advising both traditional financial institutions and unregulated FinTech players on digitalisation matters. Due to our multi-practice approach, we not only ensure your legal compliance and the legal viability of trailblazer projects but also safeguard your business needs and the requirements of the financial industry.

What others say about us

“Wolf Theiss has carved out a strong practice advising banks, insurance companies and funds alongside other financial services institutions on real estate, acquisition and infrastructure finance as well as regulatory and contentious matters, while […] also handling an increasing amount of fintech-related work.”

– The Legal 500

What makes our team the best law firm for you?

Our regional, integrated firm offers distinct advantages, spanning the full spectrum of legal services.

  • An established international law firm with 60+ years of experience in Austria and CEE/SEE
  • A fully integrated team of jurisdiction-specific qualified lawyers across our offices in 13 countries.
  • Collaboration and innovation across multidisciplinary teams and offices
  • Excellent client satisfaction – responsive, client-oriented, and consistent
  • Experience with complex and cross-border matters covering the full spectrum of legal services
  • Knowledge and expertise to add value to deals across industries

Areas of specialisation

Insurance & reinsurance

With extensive experience in the insurance sector, you can rely on a team which is a market leader in the CEE/SEE region. You benefit from our strong relationships with regulatory bodies, local insurance business associations and market players across the region. Whether you are a national or international company, we can advise you on all types of insurance agreements, provide coverage opinions, act as monitoring counsel and represent you at all levels of court and administrative proceedings. Our financial legal experts are especially familiar with Warranty & Indemnity products, D&O and E&O matters, casualty and fidelity insurance, life policies, as well as professional liability.

Payment services

One of the fastest developments in the wake of the digitalisation of the financial sector is the emergence of alternative payment services. We can advise you as credit institutions, non-banking financial institutions, e-money issuers as well as other payment service providers on licensing aspects, launching and structuring of your products to comply with national and international regulations (such as PSD 2) as well as on consumer protection aspects.

Banking regulatory

We support you on all regulatory issues related to the establishment, licensing and operation of branches, subsidiaries and services on a local and cross-border basis, including regulations such as Basel III and Basel IV.

M&A

Advising on M&A transactions in the financial sector has long been one of our key strengths. As one of the largest corporate and M&A teams across CEE/SEE, we can facilitate deal introductions and proactively work to find solutions and consensus to ensure that your transactions are successful. You can rely on our team of highly specialised transaction, regulatory and industry lawyers across our 13 offices who would be proud to work alongside you on your most important and challenging transactions and issues.

Data protection & information security

Keeping transparency and customers’ trust with regards to data is a key issue in the financial sector. With more innovation and more virtual break-ins come new, stricter regulations, which means staying up to date with your privacy policies and data security is more important than ever. We are here to help you do that while respecting your business needs with an eye toward your continued success. We advise you on the compliance of products and transactions, assist in filing necessary notifications to authorities and help to set up or review your internal procedures such as (cross-border) data transfers or Incident Response Plans for data breaches.

Get in touch

When you need an international team with extensive experience, Wolf Theiss is your right partner to support your business goals through profound legal practice.