Payments businesses face a continuous stream of legal and regulatory questions that arise from day-to-day operations: product design constraints, safeguarding structure requirements, scheme rule compliance, Consumer Duty obligations and open banking access arrangements. These are not one-off matters suited to a general law firm instruction; they are recurring operational questions that require a lawyer who understands the payments regulatory framework in detail. Bratby Law provides direct legal advice on payments product design, safeguarding, scheme governance and operational compliance for PSPs, EMIs and payment technology businesses.

Who this is for

Payments product, safeguarding and scheme governance advice is designed for operational payments businesses that face recurring regulatory questions in the course of business. Typical clients include authorised and registered payment service providers; electronic money institutions; open banking account information and payment initiation service providers; payment technology companies whose products interface with regulated payment processing; and embedded finance businesses managing compliance obligations on behalf of their clients.

Typical payments triggers

Payments businesses typically seek direct legal advice when designing a new payment product or feature and needing to confirm it falls within the scope of existing FCA permissions under the Payment Services Regulations 2017 or Electronic Money Regulations 2011. When reviewing or restructuring safeguarding arrangements to ensure they meet FCA requirements and are operationally robust. When navigating scheme rules for card schemes, open banking or variable recurring payments. When preparing for or responding to PSR consultations, policy changes or supervisory engagement. When assessing Consumer Duty obligations as applied to payments products and services. When reviewing governance arrangements, including compliance monitoring, senior management responsibilities and regulatory reporting.

What we cover

Our payments advice covers product regulatory analysis, including assessing whether new features or products require additional FCA permissions or trigger notification obligations. Safeguarding, including reviewing the adequacy of safeguarding arrangements, advising on segregation and insurance methods, and addressing FCA feedback on safeguarding compliance. Scheme governance, including interpreting and complying with card scheme rules, open banking standards and VRP frameworks. PSR compliance, including Financial Services (Banking Reform) Act 2013 obligations, interchange fee regulation and access requirements. Consumer Duty, including the application of fair value, consumer understanding, consumer support and products-and-services outcomes to payments products. Operational compliance, including regulatory reporting, complaint handling, wind-down planning and change-in-control notifications.

Outputs

Deliverables are tailored to the question. Typical outputs include regulatory opinions on product design and permissions scope; safeguarding review reports with recommendations; compliance gap analyses against FCA and PSR requirements; board papers and regulatory briefings on upcoming changes; advice on scheme rule interpretation and compliance; and drafting or review of customer terms, merchant agreements and processing contracts with regulatory input.

Rob Bratby holds a fractional General Counsel appointment at UK Payments Initiative Limited, providing direct, current experience of the regulatory challenges facing payments businesses. Combined with over 30 years’ experience across Oftel, COLT, international law firms, and appointments at TelXL, Core and The One Touch Switching Company, this provides the depth of payments regulatory knowledge that operational payments businesses need.

Why specialist payments advice matters

The payments regulatory environment is complex, fast-moving and increasingly enforcement-active. The FCA has increased its supervisory focus on safeguarding compliance, with a consultation on strengthened safeguarding requirements published in 2024 and implementation expected in 2025-2026. The PSR is actively developing the New Payments Architecture and reviewing interchange fee regulation. Consumer Duty requirements, which came into force in July 2023, create new obligations for payments businesses around fair value, consumer understanding and support. Open banking regulation continues to evolve, with variable recurring payments expanding the scope of regulated payment initiation services.

Payments businesses that rely on generalist legal advice in this environment risk missing regulatory developments that directly affect their product design, compliance obligations and commercial contracts. A specialist payments lawyer monitors these developments continuously and can advise proactively rather than reactively. Rob Bratby’s current appointment at UK Payments Initiative Limited means he is directly engaged with the payments regulatory environment on an ongoing basis.

For payments businesses at growth stage, where regulatory compliance is a condition of maintaining FCA authorisation and investor confidence, having access to specialist legal advice on product and compliance questions is not optional. The question is whether that access comes through expensive ad hoc law firm instructions or through a more efficient model such as direct legal advice on a recurring basis or a fractional GC appointment.

Related practice areas

For the full payments regulatory framework, see Payments Regulation. For commercial transactions in payments, see Transactions.

Related engagement models

See also: Fintech and Payments Fractional GC for ongoing embedded legal support, and Regulatory Perimeter and Market Entry for authorisation questions. For an overview, see Direct Legal Advice.

How we work

Direct legal advice on payments product and compliance questions is delivered by Rob Bratby personally. There is no delegation to junior lawyers. Advice is typically delivered within five working days for standard questions, with urgent turnaround available for time-sensitive matters. We communicate directly with the client’s product, compliance or legal team and are available for calls, workshops and regulatory meetings as the matter requires. For businesses with a regular flow of payments questions, we can agree a standing arrangement that provides priority access and predictable costs.

Frequently asked questions

Book a call

If your payments business needs legal advice on product design, safeguarding or scheme governance, contact us.