Jonathan Emmanuel

I am a partner in the Tech Transaction team and Co-Head of our International Financial Services Sector Group, based in London. I advise clients on disruptive digital technology adoption including cloud computing, AI, blockchain, agile software development and open source licensing, with a particular focus on FinTech.

I am an experienced Tech Transactions/FinTech lawyer advising suppliers and customers on complex, high-value commercial contracts including outsourcing/sourcing projects, payments services agreements, SaaS agreements, strategic partnerships and white-label agreements. In addition, I regularly advise clients on 'frontier technologies' such as blockchain and AI technology procurement.

I am a Ranked Lawyer in Chambers for FinTech and I am mentioned in Who's Who Legal (Fintech).

One of the areas of my job that I find the most rewarding is developing strong relationships with people: it's important that our clients know, like and trust their lawyers. When I was a more junior lawyer I took the opportunity to get to know our clients by going on secondments in the accountancy, financial services and consultancy industries. This means I have experienced things from the client's perspective, and, as a result, I'm now regularly involved in managing client relationships and I understand the importance of advising on complex commercial and legal issues in a practical and no-nonsense way.

• Advising a variety of FinTechs (EMIs, AISPs, PISPs) on the drafting and negotiation of various agreements from strategic partnership arrangements, white-label agreements, and agreements for the provision of payment services.
• Advising a range of FS clients on the impact of AI, including advising on the drafting of AI policies and the regulatory impact of AI adoption.
• Advising a global FinTech company in connection with its strategic partnership with a blockchain software developer to create a blockchain platform for the syndicated loan market.
• Leading a team of lawyers advising a UK regional media group on the outsourcing of its end-to-end IT infrastructure. The deal was the first of its kind in the UK's regional newspaper industry.
• Advising a well-known IT systems integrator in a successful £700m deal to provide outsourced telecoms, IT infrastructure and end-user computing services to a major UK mobile network operator.
• Advising an international merchant bank on its decision to expand its retail banking network in the GCC, focusing on tech as a key differentiator. I advised on all aspects of this major transformation project, including dealing with the migration of the legacy wholesale banking infrastructure to a new tech platform.