Finance & Technology
Our finance and technology practice brings together advice on financial transactions and the questions raised by technology and digital innovation. We advise businesses, investors, financial institutions and technology-driven enterprises on transactions, contracts, regulatory requirements and the legal risks that come with modern financial and technological services.
Lenders and borrowers documenting a facility, founders building a financial or digital product, businesses licensing or buying software, and companies handling personal data at scale.
What we do
- Financing transactions: Facilities, security and the documents that record what is lent, on what terms and against what.
- Commercial and financial agreements: Agreements where the money moves in stages, with conditions, covenants and what happens on default.
- Fintech advisory: How a payments, lending or wallet product sits with the licensing and regulatory regime that applies to it.
- Technology contracts: Development, hosting, support and reseller agreements, with the service levels and liability caps that make them workable.
- Digital and electronic transactions: Electronic signatures, online terms and the record-keeping that makes a digital transaction provable.
- Data and technology-related regulatory matters: Obligations under the data protection regime, including registration, consent, retention and breach handling.
- Technology licensing and agreements: Who owns what was built, who may use it, and on what terms it may be sublicensed or resold.
- Legal advice for technology-driven businesses: The standing questions a product company faces: terms of service, user data, intellectual property and liability.
How a matter usually runs
- The product or the transaction: What is being built, lent or licensed, to whom, and where the money and the data flow.
- The rules that apply: A written note of the licences, registrations and obligations engaged, and what each requires in practice.
- Documents: We draft or review the agreements and the customer-facing terms, and negotiate with the counterparty.
- Compliance in operation: Registrations, policies and the routines that keep the position current as the product changes.
What to bring
- A description of the product or transaction, and how it works
- Any term sheet, facility letter or draft agreement
- Existing terms of service and privacy notice, if there are any
- Details of the parties, and of any regulator already engaged
- Details of where data is collected, stored and sent
Common questions
Does our fintech product need a licence?
It depends on what the product actually does with money, which is not always what it is called. We work from the mechanics, not the marketing, and tell you which regime it falls into.
Do we have to register under the data protection law?
Businesses that process personal data generally have obligations under Ghana's data protection regime, including registration as a data controller. We set out what applies to your operation.
Are electronic signatures valid in Ghana?
Electronic transactions are recognised, subject to conditions, and some documents still call for particular formalities. We say which of your documents can be signed electronically and which cannot.
Who owns the software our developer built?
Whoever the contract says, and in its absence often the developer. It is worth fixing in writing before the first invoice, not after the product succeeds.