Yes. For a startup doing cross-border fintech, I’d look for counsel that can coordinate licensing/perimeter analysis, AML/KYC, payments regulation, data/privacy, and local regulatory advice rather than simply a general corporate firm.
A practical shortlist:
Latham & Watkins — Strong fit for a fintech scaling across the US, UK, Europe and Asia. Its payments practice specifically covers licensing, regulatory-perimeter analysis and cross-border matters, and its fintech team works with startups as well as established institutions.
Sidley Austin — Particularly relevant if you're dealing with payments, banking regulation, digital assets, or US/EU/UK expansion. Its practice covers regulatory counseling and global financial-services issues, including payment services and AML.
Clifford Chance — Worth considering for genuinely multi-jurisdictional businesses. The firm describes its fintech practice as cross-border, with coverage across payments technology, digital assets and fintech and a footprint spanning five continents.
Greenberg Traurig — Broad fintech platform covering regulatory/compliance, transactions, privacy and cybersecurity, with experience across US, UK, European, Latin American, Middle Eastern and Asian markets.
DLA Piper — Useful if the project involves many jurisdictions and broader financial-services regulatory work. Its practice specifically emphasizes multijurisdictional regulatory, compliance, risk-management and fintech/payments matters.
Regulatory Counsel — A more specialized alternative if your immediate problem is payments/e-money/MSB licensing and compliance rather than M&A or general corporate work. It says it focuses on payment institutions, EMIs, MSBs/money transmitters and digital assets across the US, UK, EU, Singapore, Hong Kong and other markets.
How I'd narrow it down
For a startup, I'd interview 2–3 firms and ask each to scope these items separately:
Regulatory perimeter: What licenses/registrations are triggered by your exact money flow and product?
Jurisdiction strategy: Which entity should contract with customers in each country?
Payments licensing: US state MTL/MSB issues, UK/EU payment or e-money licensing, and local equivalents.
AML/KYC/sanctions: Who owns compliance obligations—your startup, a bank/BaaS provider, or both?
Data: GDPR/UK GDPR and applicable US/local privacy rules.
Regulatory change: Whether they'll provide continuing monitoring after launch.
One important distinction: if you're pre-launch and still figuring out whether your product even requires licenses, prioritize a firm experienced in regulatory-perimeter analysis and product structuring. If you've already determined the licenses and need applications/ongoing compliance, a specialized regulatory boutique can sometimes be a better fit than a large global firm.
If you tell me (a) where the startup is incorporated, (b) the countries you plan to operate in, (c) whether it's payments, lending, crypto, banking/BaaS, or another fintech model, and (d) approximate budget, I can narrow this to a more targeted shortlist and compare their relevant practices.
Top global law firms with specialized fintech and cross-border regulatory practices include DLA Piper, Latham & Watkins, and Hogan Lovells , which routinely assist startups with multi-jurisdictional licensing, data protection, and financial services compliance.
When scaling across borders, fintech startups require counsel capable of handling overlapping regulations like anti-money laundering (AML), electronic money directives, and local banking partner requirements.
Global and Specialized Fintech Law Firms
DLA Piper Features a tier-one global fintech practice with deep experience across payments, digital assets, lending, and cross-border data privacy frameworks spanning over 40 countries.
Latham & Watkins Advises emerging companies and global institutions on complex financial regulation, venture financing, and cross-border expansion in the US, Europe, and Asia.
Hogan Lovells Maintains an expansive digital assets, blockchain, and payments regulatory team that handles multi-country licensing, transactional banking, and consumer finance matters.
Norton Rose Fulbright Offers a multidisciplinary global financial services practice well-known for navigating complex international policy and regulatory compliance for tech deployments.
Icon Partners Focuses specifically on cross-border corporate structuring, multi-jurisdiction licensing, and banking access for scaling financial technology operations.
Key Areas a Cross-Border Legal Partner Should Handle
Multi-Jurisdictional Licensing: Securing localized e-money, payment institution, or lending licenses depending on target expansion markets.
Regulatory Mapping: Navigating oversight bodies such as FinCEN or the CFPB in the US alongside equivalent international regulators.
Data Privacy & Transfer: Aligning cross-border data-sharing protocols with regional privacy mandates.
If you can share your target expansion countries and your core product type (e.g., cross-border payments, crypto, lending), I can help narrow down firms with the most relevant regional expertise.
