Simon specialises in online financial services, e-commerce and IT. His clients include e-money and payment services providers, online peer-to-peer finance platforms, retailers, marketplaces and data providers. Simon is highly experienced in his field and has consulted as in-house payments counsel to WorldPay and Amazon.com. He speaks and writes regularly on Tech law, e-commerce, privacy and retail financial services, chairs the Advisory Board of the Society for Computers and Law and is a Senior Fellow of The Finance Innovation Lab.
Previously, Simon was General Counsel & Company Secretary of Zopa, the world’s first online peer-to-peer lending platform. He was Legal & Compliance Director for a mortgage and consumer credit business in GE and a Director and General Counsel of Earthport plc, the listed payment services provider. Simon also initiated and co-ordinated e-commerce strategy for DLA and worked on contracts for software development, data licensing and the supply of business and financial information services in the Reuters legal department in London and New York.
Simon helped launch the Peer-to-Peer Finance Association. He is listed as a legal advisor to FinTech firms by Tech City UK.
Simon brings a rare level of intellectual clarity to giving advice about complex business and payments models. He’s my first port of call for any challenges in this area!
Jim Moodie, COO at Prolific
I highly recommend Simon for his exceptional ability to ask the right questions, understand the problem and come up with solutions, where others say "it cannot be done".
Pawel Stosik, PingPong Payments
Simon Deane-Johns has helped steer Zopa though regulatory waters since launch and more recently has helped us with our approval process with the FCA. Simon and Keystone have been extremely valuable in protecting Zopa’s business interests whilst aligning them to the regulator’s and government’s wishes to protect consumers.
Giles Andrews, Director (and former Chairman and CEO)
Zopa
Expertise
- Retail financial services regulation, authorisations and contracts for P2P lending, consumer credit, payments and e-money services
- FinTech development and licensing agreements with suppliers and customers
- E-commerce
- Privacy and data protection
- Online data services
- Information technology
- Commercial contracts including IT, outsourcing contracts and online service terms
- Policy and public affairs
Experience
- Advised on the launch of innovative online financial services including Zopa, Prodigy Finance, Wonga, Borro, Abundance Generation, Crowdbnk, Nutmeg, Yoyo, Proplend, InvestandFund, The Money Platform, BondMason, FundingXchange and four Amazon services in the EU, including advice on any necessary regulatory filings and/or compliance requirements, service terms, software development, software and data licensing, application processes, customer service, supplier contracts and banking/safeguarding arrangements.
- Co-founded and co-invented Zopa (www.zopa.com). Advised on product structure, the website and lending platform, contracts for insurance, payments and other suppliers, as well as international franchisees. Obtained FSA and other regulatory approvals, identified and addressed operational risk, and managed a public-affairs briefing programme.
- Advised Zopa, the UK’s leading peer-to-peer lending consumer loans service, in 2016 in connection with the first securitisation of UK consumer loans originated via a marketplace platform in the EMEA region by P2P Global Investments PLC, the first UK listed investment trust dedicated to investing in loans originated via marketplace lending platforms.
- Consulted to WorldPay (from Jan 2011 to July 2012) on European payments business, including consolidating separate group company service terms into a single customer agreement and advised on numerous issues related to the acquisition and separation of the business from RBS.
- Consulted to Amazon.com (from March 2008 to Dec 2010) on European payments, including successfully managing an application for an e-money licence in Luxembourg and advising on RFP processes and negotiations with banks and card schemes for the launch of Amazon co-branded credit cards in the EU (including the Amazon.co.uk MasterCard, Best New Credit Card Product of the Year at the Cards & Payments Awards in 2011), the launch of Amazon gift cards in the EU, including agreements with card manufacturer and distributors, the development and launch of Amazon Currency Converter on Amazon’s EU websites, cross-border payments supporting retail activity, EU collections agreements and EU bank account agreements.
- Advised on establishing pan-EU operations of US mobile phone data provider MMetrics (now owned by comScore).
- Managed legal and compliance risk for GE mortgage business, including: creating a panel of firms to offer compliance assistance to GE’s 4,000 insurance and mortgage intermediaries using e-procurement; advising on contracts for 20 significant mortgage distribution deals; advising on contested litigation strategy and loan enforcement; sponsoring 11 significant projects including Six Sigma ‘greenbelt’ project to improve law firm processes, saving approximately £7m; advising on public affairs and media; and presenting regularly on legal and business issues.
- Managed Earthport plc’s £25m private placement, the acquisition of a software development company, and the introduction to AIM (advised by ING Barings, joint brokers with Nomura), and advised on product, website and systems development and supplier contracts and a public-affairs briefing programme containing UK, Europe, Asia and Australia elements.
- Advised on website service terms and IT services and supplier agreements for numerous online businesses, and global distribution deals for financial markets data, as well as other non-financial services and content.
Please note: The experience list above may include examples of work completed prior to joining Keystone Law.
Career
Simon qualified as a solicitor in 1996. Prior to joining Keystone Law in 2011, he worked at the following firms:
- DLA Piper
- Reuters