The Fold Legal

If youre pioneering a new approach or just bringing fresh thinking to the tried and true, youll need to understand the regulatory implications and find the best way to manage them. This is The Folds favourite territory, and weve been helping financial services and credit businesses innovate since 2002.

Servicing clients Australia wide from offices in Sydney and Brisbane, The Fold offers a full range of regulatory, corporate and commercial legal services to financial services businesses. We are financial services specialists highly regarded for our industry knowledge and for strategic advice that addresses our clients needs. We believe the law doesnt have to be mysterious or complicated, and our mission is to make high quality legal services accessible and available for all.

Since 2013 The Fold has become the go-to regulatory and commercial advice firm for fintech, regtech, blockchain and cryptocurrency businesses, across multiple sectors. Were Legal Partner to Fintech Australia and Insurtech Australia and are members of both the Federal Governments FinTech Advisory Committee and ASICs Business Advisory Panel. This gives us unique insight into and the ability to contribute to regulatory policy development. We also leverage our excellent relationships at ASIC to deliver positive outcomes for our clients and regularly assist start-ups in establishing relationships with the regulators and facilitate the process (by using the Innovation Hub to engage with ASIC) to seek an early position from the regulators to inform the business model.

We are often told that the most valuable contribution we make is putting our extensive network at our clients service. Having worked for many years in the financial services sector, The Fold has a wealth of business relationships that it makes available to its clients to connect them to clients and others in our network to seek investment, pilot/partner opportunities, and other professional support. We have connected numerous businesses and fintech start-ups who have similar interests and specialisations with clients who can benefit from the use of their technology or collaborate together on projects.

Our contribution to the fintech ecosystem was recognised at the 2018 Finnie Awards where we were awarded Excellence in FinTech Support Services Professional Services. We were finalists in the 2019 Awards in the Excellence in Support Services category.

The Fold is ranked in the Chambers Global FinTech Guide, with Chairman Claire Wivell Plater ranked as a Band 1 Lawyer. Solicitor Director Charmian Holmes won FinTech Thought Leader of the Year at the 2019 Fintech Business Awards.

Key Policy Working Groups

The Folds Chairman Claire Wivell Plater co-leads the Digital Currency & Blockchain policy working group. We are also active in the following policy working groups:

• Small Business Lending
• Payments
• Open Data (Open Banking)
• Wealthtech
• Crowdfunding

Main points of contact

1 hour complimentary consultations for Fintech Australia members

The Folds niche is working with early stage fintechs to provide strategic advice on how to commercialise their technology, how their offering will be received in the market and establishing relationships with the regulator. If youre a start-up looking for some initial advice, get in touch with us to book a 1 hour complimentary consultation where you can discuss your business plans with one of our experts. We can advise on business structure, capital raising, regulation, licensing and partnering/piloting arrangement. Its an opportunity to get some useful legal advice without any ongoing commitment. Whilst you wont receive any written advice afterwards, youll have your initial questions answered and a clear direction for what the next steps are.

To book a consult, contact our Client Relationship Manager, Felicity Lyall, on [email protected]

Manuals, templates & tools

The Fold has created a comprehensive suite of legal manuals and templates that are a cost effective way for fintech start-ups to put the proper agreements and systems in place without too much legal spend. To purchase these templates, visit our eStore. If you need more information on what products might be suitable for your business, get in touch wed be happy to help.

The Fold offers a 5% discount on all our products for Fintech Australia members just get in touch with us to redeem this offer.

Blog Articles

The Fold publishes a regular blog that provides a frank take on issues affecting the financial services sector. We make our blogs relevant by telling you in plain English what it means for your business we dont just commentate.

Subscribe to our mailing list to receive blog alerts, plus $50 off your next eStore purchase.