Johannes Wirtz

Finance & Financial Regulation

Financial Services

FinTech

As a partner in our Finance & Financial Regulation practice group in Frankfurt, Johannes provides expert advice to both national and international clients on banking regulatory matters and finance law.

Throughout his tenure at Bird & Bird, he has developed extensive knowledge of the increasingly regulated financial market and its evolving trends. His daily focus encompasses regulatory issues related to credit institutions, financial services institutions, payment service providers, e-money institutions, and investment funds (managers). He specialises in advising clients on the interplay between regulation and digitalisation in a rapidly changing landscape, particularly as it pertains to disruptive technologies affecting the financial sector. As such, his advisory work includes support for fintech, insurtech, and regtech companies, as well as their investors, on a range of topics from regulatory compliance to investment structures and ownership control.

Being one of the initial lawyers to assist with license applications under the EU crowdfunding regulation, he possesses significant expertise in licensing, registrations, and alternative structures that fall outside regulatory boundaries, in addition to anti-money laundering laws and their implications for anonymous products.

His practice involves a wide array of multi-jurisdictional and cross-border projects across various industries, with a particular focus on financing matters. He is especially focused on project financing in relation to renewable energy and infrastructure projects, including FTTH networks, as well as leveraged buyouts (LBOs). His work often engages with debt funds and their regulatory contexts, addressing questions related to the Capital Requirements Regulation (CRR) and the acquisition of distressed loan portfolios.

As a member of our Finance & Financial Regulation group, he remains actively informed through engagements in thought-leadership, sector-focused research, and academic writing on cryptocurrencies and crypto-financing methods. He contributes to the discourse by regularly publishing scientific articles and providing insights on Bird & Bird's website and in industry news updates.

Studies:

- Legal studies at the University of Bonn and the second state examination in Cologne

- Legal clerkship with stations at major law firms, legal departments, courts and the finance authority as well as at a law firm in the USA (focus: cross-border matters)

- Degree of Master of Laws with a specialisation in Banking and Finance Law in a postgraduate programme at the University of London under the academic direction of Queen Mary University of London and University College London

Admissions:

Admitted to the German bar