DLA: Dear Philippe, how did you get to GvW and what is your professional background?
Philippe Woesch: I have been advising domestic and international Fintechs, in particular Digital Lenders, for many years, from structuring to ongoing advice and the further development of the operational business. My clients also include banking/software companies as service providers (credit institutions, financial services institutions and payment service providers). I really enjoy helping to shape the Fintech sector. Fintechs look for pragmatic solutions and advisers that do not overthink while still providing legally compliant concepts. Hence, it is important to think like a Fintech and to understand its expectations and wishes. Digital Lending in particular is accompanied by a constant change of the legal landscape which I find very interesting and challenging at the same time. I also regularly publish legal articles on relevant and future-oriented topics in the Fintech sector, contribute to
legal commentaries (e.g. commentary on the ECSP-Regulation) and regularly attend Fintech events. GvW has an excellent and highly specialised Banking & Finance team and has already advised many FinTechs and clients in the financial sector. Due to the interesting synergies with my own experience and expertise, I decided to join the firm in 2023.
DLA: What exactly is the business model of GvW ?
Philippe Woesch: GvW advises in all areas of business law with a ‘best practice approach’. As a full-service law firm with a renowned international network of partner firms, GvW offers comprehensive advice on all relevant areas of law (banking/finance, IP/data protection, compliance, employment law, Corporate/M&A, etc.) from a single source while making sure that every lawyer is a specialist in his or her area of expertise. All lawyers at GvW seek to provide pragmatic and tailor-made solutions.
We strive to assist our clients in all areas of law enabling them to set up and expand their businesses and ideas, providing practical advice that helps them make necessary decisions on a well-informed basis. We support our clients in the financial sector – i.e. Fintechs, credit institutions, financial service providers and other established players in the financial market – in particular in banking law and banking regulatory matters. This includes assistance regarding setting up and developing business models (e.g. Fintech structures), dealing with license and registration requirements, including white label/BaaS/SaaS solutions, implementing regulatory requirements (including AML compliance, outsourcing agreement), prospectus and other capital market information, agreements with investors, providing templates for the necessary customer contracts, such as traditional banking and financing agreements, as well as terms of use for websites and many further services.
DLA: Why was it important for you to become a member of our association?
Philippe Woesch: Fintech Lenders are a highly important driver of innovation and have become a fundamental part of the financial market. They represent speed, diversity, flexibility, target-oriented solutions and therefore offer competitive advantages. We at GvW are convinced that lending in the future will be digital. However, the rapid growth of Fintechs in Digital Lending is accompanied by a constant change of the legal landscape which keeps us (and our clients) busy every day. Through its involvement in the Digital Lending sector, DLA is shaping the future and we as a law firm want to play our part in this in the best possible way. We are therefore very happy to have been the first law firm joining DLA and look very much forward to being part of this ecosystem and joint future events.
DLA: Thank you very much for the interview, Philippe. We are really happy Graf von Westphalen is part of our trade body now.
Foto credits: GvW Graf von Westphalen