So, first things first: we hope you are all well and stay that way. We will adapt, we will go on.

The next thing to say is that we can help CEOs, CFOs, CTOs, and COOs to get on top of things if it’s all gone a bit, well, tough.

Fintech startups suffer first and worst in a downturn (we’ve been through two such before…). It means you need to think outside the normal and get on top of things: people, code, money, and customers.

There’s never a good time to have a crisis. But we’re always open. Call us when you have to.

Whose intellectual property is it anyway?

A lot of software is created through joint effort – requirements, prototype, enhancements, change requests; whether through a team or by a single individual. So whose IP is it anyway? And what happens when relationships go wrong and business partners separate?

We’ve seen many challenges in this space but also some useful conventions, mediation drivers, and practical solutions that ex-business partners might want to consider before going to law. The key to understanding IP in software terms, as with many things in life, is to “follow the money”: who commissioned it, who built it, who paid for it and who makes money from it now.

Don’t stand by and let your IP potentially walk away from you in a dispute or in confusion about the technical aspects of the software. We can help untangle the mess and we work with IP lawyers too who can assist with your enforcement rights as well.

Something went wrong. Don’t be like TSB.

At times like these there are a few words to describe the situation. But “Java.lang.NullPointerException” ain’t one of them. Our sweet spot is helping clients out of tricky situations like this: help is at hand. Call us.

Runaway CTO means you are locked out from your own software code

A key developer has left… and taken the code with them!

Absent code creates a particular sort of panic in the minds of partners, directors, and investors. You’ve probably been there and know what we are talking about. The consequential financial, litigation, and coding/programming costs to recover lost, stolen, or absent code can be horrendous. Not recovering the code can in some instances threaten the very existence of a business. Who do you turn to for help with the financial, legal, and technical expertise to restore the code and reassert your ownership? The challenge of course is to do so with as little disruption as possible.

Fintech Recovery is there for you when your technology is beyond control.

When technology or your systems become the problem, give us a call. It won’t cost you anything to get a second opinion and you may be surprised by the outcomes we can deliver.

A fintech entrepreneur reacts to an unexpected creditor demand

Fintech entrepreneurs, COOs, CIOs all deal with investment capital, cash flow, and the day-to-day running of their sometimes fragile startups. When things go wrong and creditors start calling it’s important to face into reality and take those calls. Not just as a matter of common courtesy, but the sooner the right information is given to all parties, the better.

Fintech Recovery Ltd has huge experience of this – we have helped ourselves and others out of many similar situations. The end result can be workable – most people are reasonable and will look for a solution. If you’re worried about your business and pressure is building from creditors and others please call us. Don’t suffer in silence.

Is there a clash of priorities between regulatory change and fintech?

New regulations – improving or gold-plating fintech compliance?

From January 2018 new rules and regulations are being introduced covering businesses that provide services to clients linked to ‘financial instruments’ and the venues where those instruments are traded.

The Markets in Financial Instruments Directive II (MiFID II) is an EU directive transposed into the home law of all single-market members. MiFID II imposes new rules designed to “give customers more protection and force greater transparency across everything from fixed income to swaps”, according to the Financial Times. The paper describes it as “the biggest regulatory shake-up of European financial markets in a decade” – and a much-delayed reaction to the 2008 financial crisis.

MiFID II’s goals are to achieve a shift in trading towards more structured marketplaces, to improve execution, encourage orderly trading within markets, and provide consumers with lower and more explicit costs of trading and investing. Not only will MiFID II have an impact on firms’ data storage resources to support this new, deeper reporting but the same will also have implications for the security of that storage.

MiFID II significantly updates current FCA (Financial Conduct Authority) sourcebooks on such activities as the secure recording and archiving of telephone calls with consumers, extending the records of conversations covered to include anyone involved in the chain of a trade, including financial advisers, both human and robotic. MiFID II stipulates a minimum period of data retention – albeit potentially at cross-purposes to its sister directive, GDPR. MiFID II will affect everyone engaged in the dealing and processing of financial instruments from finance business and their operating models, systems, and data to data, people, and processes in companies classified as “investment firms” according to Thomson Reuters. The definition of these entities is deliberately wide and vague.

Fintech companies – especially those regulated in an EU home market – are struggling to comply with the new regulations in time for the deadline. Fintech firms big and small are inundated by the scope of change driven by the directive; the immoveable implementation date and the lack of specific detail and guidance on what has to be done and how, at a national and EU level. It does not help that a rolling pattern of consultation and discussion of some specific regulations remain under discussion. The UK’s FCA has frequently chosen to ‘gold plate’ EU directives in order to promote the UK as stable and well-regulated location for financial services, adding to the regulatory burden of firms in the UK compared to their counterparts in the rest of the EU.

However, the FCA has published some guidance on its website FCA MiFID II Guidance and a PDF guide to help businesses through what parts of the regulations are relevant to them. Fintech firms may also sign up for email updates from the FCA.