Flint helps financial services institutions, from established players to growing fintechs, navigate an ever-more complex regulatory and policy landscape and understand the broader political context in which these events take place.
Our team brings together expertise from senior levels of UK and European financial institutions, regulators and government, to provide advice and insight across the financial services landscape. Our advice combines deep technical knowledge with first-hand experience of policy and regulatory decision-making, to help businesses and investors anticipate and manage regulatory developments and take strategic decisions to achieve successful commercial outcomes.
Flint’s approach
We work in close collaboration with other areas of expertise within the company including digital, geopolitics, trade and sustainability teams to bring together an unrivalled offer to corporates and investors operating within the financial services industry across the UK and the EU.
Respond to macro financial and strategic risks and trends
We horizon-scan global and local trends to identify changes within the regulatory environment. Drawing upon our extensive networks as well as our own expertise, we aim to strengthen our understanding of how changes impact the broader financial services and markets and offer informed views on their commercial effect.
Understand sectoral policy and regulatory development
We support business in its approach to specific policy and regulation, including where financial services intersect with traditional and new technologies as well as new corporate priorities such as sustainability and ESG. We help our clients align commercial strategy with the policy agenda and engage with key influential stakeholders to deliver impact.
Navigate policy and regulatory risks to secure successful outcomes
We support companies across the financial sector to manage and influence regulatory market studies or investigations, acting as a critical friend to help them make clear and compelling arguments aligning with wider corporate objectives.
Anticipate and respond to wider geopolitical developments
We offer clear and timely insights on geopolitical developments across the UK, Europe and Asia to help our clients understand and prepare for how these affect them.
Case studies
Influencing the regulatory framework for a major blockchain platform
Influencing the regulatory framework for a major blockchain platform
UK and EU policymakers were at the early stages of adapting existing regulatory frameworks to be able to accommodate emerging technologies such as DLT, blockchain and cryptoassets. It was important to ensure that changes encouraged innovation. CBDCs are a key blockchain use case. Policymakers have been hesitant to press ahead owing to policy and monetary concerns.
Identified organic opportunities to reach out to key stakeholders and build influence and recognition.
Leveraged our networks to support the client’s engagement with UK and EU policymakers, and better understand policy and regulatory directions of travel.
Adapted to the client’s commercial priorities, advising on regulatory engagement for emerging technologies.
Improved understanding of central banks’ approach to CBDCs to support the launch of a CBDC Sandbox.
Secured senior UK and EU meetings with policymakers to educate and inform on benefits of client’s platform including for public service delivery.
Advised on the direction of DeFi regulation, helping to position a spin-off venture ahead of the launch.
Coordinating the financial services industry response’s to Brexit in the UK and the EU
Coordinating the financial services industry response’s to Brexit in the UK and the EU
The vote for Brexit in 2016 led to considerable uncertainty for financial services. Following the referendum, the Chair of one of Europe’s biggest banks brought in Flint to help establish and run a high-level group of Chairs and other senior figures in global financial institutions based in the UK.
Deployed our senior team and network of Senior Advisers and offered regulatory, political and trade advice on the process and politics of Brexit from the EU and UK perspective.
Leveraged our networks to support the group’s engagement with UK and EU policymakers.
Coordinated the involvement of senior stakeholders from UK industry and trade associations.
Helped coordinate the group’s efforts to drive a more effective and united response of the UK financial services industry after the Brexit decision.
Raised the level of understanding of various technical and operational issues that had previously been overlooked.
Secured Bank/FCA announcements on the creation of the BoE/ECB technical working group; and various EU/MS level commitments to transitional policy arrangements.
Supporting a major international payments firm to engage on changing regulation in the UK and EU
Supporting a major international payments firm to engage on changing regulation in the UK and EU
Flint advised a major Fintech payments firm on how to successfully navigate and engage on legislative and regulatory reform which directly impacted their core business. These reforms posed significant challenges for their core business model in both the UK and the EU.
We worked with the client’s government affairs team to develop a core set of key messages and policy proposals. We then built off these to produce a series of draft consultation responses and policy papers covering key commercial issues.
We designed an engagement strategy to target key political, official, and regulatory stakeholders across a range of jurisdictions. This strategy incorporated both our policy analysis and our political insight into the key influencers in relation to priority policy areas.
We supported this work by mapping global policy and regulatory trends which affected the firm’s commercial environment and briefed the client’s executive team on key trends.
HM Treasury and the FCA brought forward regulatory proposals aligned with the client’s interests, with commercially harmful proposals avoided. This provided long-term security for the client’s business model.
Our mapping of global trends provided the client with a comprehensive understanding of risks and opportunities across jurisdictions, and formed the basis of an ongoing internal product to monitor these trends.
Our briefing focussed the Executive on upcoming policy challenges and helped secure cross-company support for policy work.
A late change to an incoming prudential regime resulted in a client’s international operations being brought in scope, meaning the client would be required to hold significant additional capital. The client needed support to consider the options and make a decision about how best to mitigate the impact of this.
What Flint Did
Outcome
Flint advises international businesses and investors on policy, politics, regulation and competition issues in European markets
