Annette Printz Nielsen

Being passionate about technology and innovative solutions as much as financial regulation is the core of being a dedicated fintech lawyer and my first priority as a legal adviser.

I am a partner and Danish Head of the Financial Services Group and advise clients on a broad range of tech and regulatory related matters. On the tech side, I have significant expertise in drafting and negotiating IT contracts, including in particular SaaS contracts, consultancy contracts, outsourcing contracts and licensing terms. Additionally, I am passionate about and advise on new technology such as distributed ledger technology (DLT), artificial intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT) and Big Data and the legal aspects associated with the use of this tech.

On the regulatory side, I advise on regulatory issues impacting the payments sector in particular, including the Danish Payments Act (PSD2 in international context), Regulatory Technical Standards (RTS), the Interchange Fee Regulation (IFR), the European Banking Authority (EBA) guidelines on outsourcing, etc. I advise on licensing requirements and applications for payment service providers including the new license requirements for account information service providers (AISP) and payment initiation service providers (PISP).

I work very closely with my colleagues in our international payments team advising payment services providers, large international merchants, as well as various stakeholders in the payments value chain on regulatory matters, market analysis and product reviews. Furthermore, I advise fintech startups on all tech and regulatory aspects and challenges of operating as a fintech.

I am a strong believer in cultivating a diverse and inclusive payments industry internationally, and am the Danish ambassador for European Women Payments Network (EWPN), which is a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to building a community for women in cards, fintech & payments in Europe.

• Before joining Bird & Bird, I was the general counsel of Saxo Payments Banking Circle being responsible for a team of legal counsels based in Denmark and Luxembourg advising the business in particular on payments regulatory, contractual, and corporate matters. Before that, I was an associate at a leading Danish law firm and specialised in advising clients on various aspects of commercial and business law, primarily on IT contractual matters, dispute resolution, litigation and arbitration.