Paula De Biase
Biography
Paula De Biase heads the Fintech and Financial Services Regulation (FSR) Group in Spain, including also the Funds practice. She also sits in the Global FSR Steering Committee of the Firm and acts as co-lead of the FSR practice for the EMEA region.
With more than 15 years' experience in financial regulation, she has advised national and international clients in various areas of the financial services sector: payment services, fund management, investment services, consumer credit and other banking and insurance services, including Fintech initiatives and other online and mobile solutions.
Paula has taught Banking Law in the Master's programmes of several universities: the International Legal Consultancy degree at IE; the International Law, Foreign Trade and International Relations degree at ISDE; the Business Law degree at the Universidad de Navarra, and the Venture Capital and Entrepreneurship degree at INCARI/Rafael del Pino Foundation.
She is individually ranked in Chambers 2023 for FinTech and Financial Regulation. She is described in these publications as "an excellent lawyer: she is expert in all things FinTech, regulatory and payments. She has a deep understanding of financial regulation in Spain and has considerable experience dealing with regulatory authorities there. Her advice is always considered, comprehensive and most importantly practical and commercially focused."
Practice Focus
Paula De Biase has extensive experience in advising national and international institutions regarding the authorization, creation, marketing and regulatory compliance of products, entities or activities subject to financial supervision, including Fintech initiatives and new on-line or mobile products and solutions. Her area of expertise includes also AML related advice for different financial sectors, including the crypto business.
In addition, she has sound experience in defining investment structures and fund formation matters, as well as in advising on complex financial contracts, M&A transactions, and restructuring projects that involve financial regulatory issues.
Her main clients are fund managers, venture capitalists, banks, payment institutions, investment service companies, insurance companies, crypto-service providers and other supervised entities.
Representative Legal Matters
- Financial services regulatory advice in different payment institutions authorization files, including the first account information services (AIS) registration under PSD2 in Spain.
- Regulatory advice in different change of control authorization processes with different regulators (management companies, payment institutions, financial establishments, etc).
- Advice in the authorization and incorporation of an AIFM and a private equity fund (AIF) launched by a Spanish-listed Group (IBEX36), as well as different cross-board fund structuring matters.
- Advice in the full legal set-up of the Spanish consumer finance business of a leading Swedish bank.
- Advice in different Brexit restructuring projects for UK investment firms, management companies and payment/e-money institutions, including the set-up of Spanish branches and all actions necessary for the transfer of business.
- Advice in a cross-border merger and Group restructuring projects of a leading German insurance Group.
- Advice in the registration as mortgage credit intermediary with the Bank of Spain of a leading real estate international franchise Group.
- Registration of several leading crypto-exchanges and custodian wallet providers with the Bank of Spain from an AML perspective.
- Advice in a major cyber incident for a leading financial institution.
Professional Honors
- Band 4, Banking and Finance: Financial Services, Chambers and Partners Europe (2025)
Professional Associations and Memberships
- Madrid Bar Association - Member
Admissions
- Madrid~Spain (2007)
- Lisbon~Portugal (2006)
- Sao Paulo~Brazil (2004)
Education
- Comillas Pontifical University (ICADE) (Master in Business Law) (2007)
- Pontifical Catholic University of Sao Paulo (Post Graduate in Contract Law) (2006)
- Federal University of Pernambuco (Law Degree) (2004)
Languages
- English
- German
- Portuguese
- Spanish
Firm Committee Memberships
- Financial Institutions Group