James is a knowledge counsel in our Financial Services & Markets Department, supporting the firm’s cross-disciplinary and market-leading Fintech, Market Infrastructure and Payments (FMIP) practice.
He joined the firm in 2023 and keeps the team, and our clients, up to date with the fast-paced and complex legal and regulatory developments in the field.
Having started his career practising in consumer finance with another leading firm, since 2009 he has specialised in the regulation of payments and fintech. Besides roles at a number of law firms, James has spent considerable time in-house (at a major universal bank, as the sole counsel at a fintech scale-up, and in a global fintech unicorn), as well as working for both the FCA and the Law Commission. He is an expert on topics such as open banking, cryptoassets, settlement, cross-border payments, regulated lending and consumer protection. He has deep connections with many trade associations, having presented to, trained or represented organisations including UK Finance (including its legacy bodies), the Payments Innovation Forum and the FLA. James actively participates in the work of the firm's LGBT+ network (something he has done throughout his career).
Since 2018, James has volunteered as Company Secretary and a director of Wave Community Bank, a credit union serving the financially vulnerable across East Sussex and Kent.