drill.’s regulated market practice team has already gained widespread recognition among clients. Our services are based on in-depth professional knowledge, industry experience, as well as a business-oriented and creative approach. We have also proven ourselves in the field of consumer credits as a tightly regulated industry.
In regulated market matters, we provide the highest level of legal assistance to Latvian and international financial institutions, credit institutions, payment service providers, pension funds, venture capital funds, crowdfunding platforms, insurance brokerage companies, agents of noteholders, companies included in the regulated market, consumer credit service providers, credit intermediaries, and other companies that need to comply with specific regulatory requirements for the provision of financial services.
Our services include assistance in the establishment of companies and ensuring compliance of such companies that require a special licence and are supervised by institutions such as the Financial and Capital Market Commission, the Bank of Latvia, the ECB and the CRPC.
We are indescribably pleased and happy that on 20 December 2022 with the support provided by experts of Regulatory practice of drill. INDEXO AIFP SIA was registered as an alternative investment fund manager and the Financial and Capital Market Commission (FCMC) allowed INDEXO AIFP SIA to provide alternative investment fund management services and additional services.
In the future, INDEXO AIFP SIA will focus on the creation and management of a competitive, low-cost real estate fund in which both Baltic institutional investors and private individuals can invest.
drill. experts participated in the preparation and coordination of documents necessary for registration with the FCMC, including participating in meetings and negotiations with the regulator.
In response to the request of SIA Mindi Insurance, drill. Regulatory team provided its assistance when SIA Mindi Insurance was registered as an intermediary for insurance and reinsurance services with the Financial and Capital Market Commission. We are pleased to say that the registration process went easily and smoothly.
While providing advice, drill. team developed a number of internal documents required by the company as an insurance and reinsurance service provider, namely, the Rules for Testing and Ensuring the Compliance of Knowledge and Skills of the Responsible Person and Employees Involved in Services, the Customer Payment Processing Procedure, the Information System Protection Rules, the Complaints Review Procedure and the Organizational Structural Rules.
In addition, we invested a lot of work in developing the Privacy Policy and Cookie Policy for the needs of SIA Mindi Insurance, as well as the terms of use of the Mindi portal.
More information at: FCMC news.
We are indescribably happy and satisfied that on 21.01.2021, our client, AS Indexo Atklātais Pensiju Fonds, received a licence from the Financial and Capital Market (FCMC) to operate a private pension fund. INDEXO plans to offer conceptually new and innovative 3rd pillar pension plans in the near future.
drill. experts participated in the preparation and coordination of the documents required for obtaining the licence from the FCMC, including the development of all internal control system documents, and participated in meetings and negotiations with the regulator. This is the first licence received by the pension fund after the entry into force of the new Private Pension Fund Law and subject to the strict AML regulation after the overhaul of the financial sector.
More information at : INDEXO blog and FCMC news.
IPAS Indexo is a start-up pension fund that has helped revitalize the Latvian pension fund industry in recent years by offering low-cost second-tier pension fund services. It is the first pension fund in Latvia to offer passively managed pension plans.
Our Regulatory team successfully provided consultations and represented INDEXO in the discussion of the new draft Private Pension Fund Law at the Saeima’s Legal Bureau. Thanks to the INDEXO initiative, the draft law incorporates a mechanism that facilitates the convenient transfer of funds between private pension funds, as well as amendments to the Credit Institutions Law to ensure stronger protection of pension fund members’ assets in the event of insolvency of credit institutions. Both of these legal initiatives have been adopted.
Legal advice included preparation of amendments to the draft law and their substantiation (annotation) and successful representation of INDEXO’s interests in the Saeima’s Legal Bureau.
For more information, please see:
The Alternative Financial Services Association of Latvia entrusted Ramona Miglāne, the head of our FinTech practice group, with the great privilege to lead the development of the Guidelines for the Crowdfunding Industry in Latvia. The aim of the Guidelines is to create a sustainable and transparent crowdfunding industry in Latvia.
The Alternative Financial Services Association of Latvia unites financial technology or FinTech companies, as well as other companies operating outside the banking sector and providing financial services to the residents of Latvia and other EU Member States.
The Guidelines cover issues such as the protection of platform users’ assets, corporate governance, access to information and customer information, advertising practices, measures to prevent conflicts of interest and data protection, as well as a number of other principles. Please see the text of the Guidelines here: https://www.lafpa.lv/content/uploads/2020/05/LAFPA_guidelines_crowdfunding_ENG-1.pdf .
Our team of Regulatory experts represented the Alternative Financial Services Association of Latvia in the working group established by the Ministry of Finance for elaboration of the draft Law on Crowdfunding Services, including drafting of amendments to the law, represented the Associations in the working group meetings, prepared arguments and justification for implementing various Association-initiated rules, requested opinions from the European Commission, ESMA, EBA, the Bank of Lithuania and the Estonian Financial Services Authority, as well as led discussions between the members of the Association, gathered their opinions and formulated the consolidated position of the members.
Although the draft Law on Crowdfunding Services did not make progress beyond the Saeima’s Budget and Finance Commission, as during its implementation, work was started on a unified EU regulation in the field of crowdfunding, this bill played a significant role in the development and arrangement of the industry. Thanks to the work of our experts, both the supervisory authorities such as the FCMC and the Bank of Latvia, as well as the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Justice gained a deeper understanding of the industry and the operation of platforms, which ensured productive dialogue with industry representatives.
Mogo Finance is one of the largest and fastest growing car financing companies in Europe, which started its operations in Latvia and currently operates in 17 countries. In 2018 and 2019, Mogo Finance successfully issued EUR 1 billion in corporate bonds in several phases. The bonds are listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange Open Market.
Our Banking and Finance practice team advised Mogo Finance on all issues of Latvian law related to the bond issue, including advice on collateral structuring, establishment and registration in Latvia, as well as prepared transaction-related agreements and other documents and provided a legal opinion on the validity and enforceability of bond prospectus and related contracts.
Based on our significant experience in advising non-bank creditors and the recent rapid development of the industry, our Banking and Finance practice group had the opportunity to help establish a new leasing company, AS Loango.
Legal services included obtaining of a special consumer credit permit (licence) at the Consumer Rights Protection Centre (CRPC), preparation and negotiation of standard contract terms, internal credit issuance procedure, solvency assessment procedure, debt collection procedure, consumer complaint handling procedure and data processing procedure with the CRPC. It should be noted that this was already the 4th CRPC licence that was obtained with assistance of our experts.
With the support of our FinTech team, the first lending-based crowdfunding platform, www.mintos.lv, was created, which currently ranks among the largest platform of its kind in the world. To date, the Mintos platform has 340,000 investors from all over the world, with a total funding of € 5.7 billion. Currently Mintos is the leading platform in continental Europe with a 45% market share.
For several years, our FinTech team has helped Mintos grow and start its operations in more than 70 jurisdictions worldwide, providing a full range of legal assistance to the client. It should be emphasized that other Baltic market participants, when creating their crowdfunding platforms, have taken over the operating structure of the Mintos platform and the legal documents developed with our help as industry best practices.
Our Regulatory experts participated in the development of the AML internal control system of the Latvia-based international cryptocurrency bitcoin exchange platform Paybis. Under this assignment, our experts performed an AML risk assessment and prepared a report on the AML risk assessment, as well as developed AML procedures and other documents.