Bank account opening, merchant account and acquiring setup, payment flows and safeguarding for businesses banks consider high-risk.
Industry 05
Digital Platforms & Marketplaces
Payments, platform regulation, consumer protection and data protection for businesses that connect buyers, sellers and users online.
Topics: Marketplace paymentsPlatform regulationConsumer termsData protection
Who we advise
- Online marketplaces for goods and services
- Platform operators and app-based services
- Sharing-economy and gig platforms
- Subscription and digital content platforms
- Intermediaries and agency-model businesses
Specialisations
Business models we advise
- 01Online Marketplaces
- Multi-vendor marketplaces for goods and services: payment flows, trader obligations and consumer rules.
- 02Digital Platforms
- Content, community and service platforms subject to platform and intermediary regulation.
- 03Platform Operators
- Operators running third-party services on their infrastructure, and how responsibility is allocated between them and their users.
- 04Intermediary Business Models
- Agency, commission and introducer models, and the point at which an intermediary becomes a regulated party.
- 05Subscription & Digital Content
- Recurring billing, auto-renewal and cancellation rules for digital services and content.
Context
The regulatory landscape
Platforms and marketplaces sit between their users, and the law increasingly asks them to take responsibility for what happens on both sides: collecting and paying out funds, verifying traders, handling illegal content, protecting consumers and processing personal data at scale.
We advise platform operators on how their model is characterised — agent, intermediary or merchant of record — and on the payment, platform, consumer and data protection obligations that follow in the markets they serve.
Challenges
Where businesses need support
- 1.
Marketplace money flows
Collecting and paying out on behalf of users without inadvertently providing regulated payment services.
- 2.
Platform regulation
Obligations for intermediaries and online platforms under digital services rules, including notice-and-action and trader traceability.
- 3.
Consumer protection
Transparency on rankings and reviews, pricing information and cancellation rules in the markets you serve.
- 4.
Data protection
Privacy compliance for platforms processing personal data at scale and across borders.
- 5.
Payment acceptance
Merchant accounts for platform models that acquirers classify as higher risk.
- 6.
Platform terms
User, seller and API terms that allocate responsibility clearly between the platform and its users.
Services
How we help
Privacy compliance and GDPR programmes, notices and DPAs, DPIAs, data mapping and ROPA, transfers, audits and breach response.
Platform, white-label, B2B supply, SaaS, affiliate and outsourcing agreements drafted for regulated environments.
Regulatory, business model, perimeter, payment, gaming, crypto-asset and cross-border opinions for banks, partners and investors.
Trademark and patent registration and protection, copyright protection, domain name disputes, portfolio support and IP agreements.
Information security compliance, security governance and policies, gap assessments, DORA, NIS2, vendor risk and incident governance.
Jurisdictions
Relevant frameworks
Questions
Frequently asked
Does our marketplace need a payment licence?
It depends on whether the platform receives or controls funds on behalf of users, and on the exemptions available in the relevant markets — such as the commercial agent exclusion in the EU, which is interpreted narrowly. Many marketplaces use a licensed payment provider to hold and pay out funds instead.
Discuss your matter with a senior advisor.
Share a few details about your business and plans. We will come back to arrange a confidential initial conversation.