Where do we advise?

We provide clients with comprehensive legal advice in assessing and structuring their business models in the area of financial regulation. In the framework of the implementation of various business plans, we propose regulated and unregulated solutions to our clients and subsequently represent them in licensing, registration and sanction proceedings before the National Bank of Slovakia.

As one of the few legal and tax advisors in Slovakia, we have long been involved in the legal, tax and accounting regulation of collective investment. We provide comprehensive tax and legal advice on the set-up and establishment of domestic and cross-border fund structures, with a focus on the treatment of regulatory, tax and accounting risks of operating investment funds.

For our clients we provide comprehensive legal and tax advice on the issue of securities (shares, bonds), including the drafting of the prospectus of the security.

At the same time, in the field of investment services and investment activities, we provide legal services in the establishment and operation of a securities dealer, financial advisor or financial agent.

We also advise clients on the regulation of crowdfunding as well as the regulation of payment services and electronic money.

What are our services when representing a client before the National Bank of Slovakia?

When establishing various financial institutions (asset management company, securities dealer, payment institution), we represent clients at the initial stage in preliminary consultations with the National Bank of Slovakia, then we prepare an application for a permit/licence for the client and after its submission we represent the client in the licensing procedure itself and communicate on its behalf with the National Bank of Slovakia.

In the registration procedures of the so-called under-limit alternative investment fund managers, we process the establishment of both the manager and the investment fund and their subsequent registration with the National Bank of Slovakia.

We also represent clients in supervision by the National Bank of Slovakia and subsequently in sanction proceedings if the supervision results in the initiation of sanction proceedings.

What is our experience?

We advise clients in the areas of financial regulation, fund advisory and securities primarily in the following areas:

• Establishment of the first European Venture Capital Fund (EuVECA) in the V4 countries and its registration with the National Bank of Slovakia;
• Representing a client in licensing proceedings before the National Bank of Slovakia in relation to the establishment of a management company for the management of alternative investment funds and foreign alternative investment funds;
• Establishment, registration with the National Bank of Slovakia and subsequent continuous legal advice to several sub-limit alternative investment funds, several of which we established in the legal form of SICAVs;
• Representing a client in sanction proceedings before the National Bank of Slovakia in relation to unauthorised collective investment, both in the first instance (Financial Market Supervision Unit) and in the second instance (Banking Council);
• Legal advisory services to foreign asset management companies (AIFM, UCITS managers) in setting up their distribution network and distribution of foreign alternative investment funds in Slovakia;
• Establishment of the second European Venture Capital Fund (EuVECA) in Slovakia and its registration with the National Bank of Slovakia;
• Legal advisory services, including drafting complete documentation, on several private and public (with prospectus) bond offerings in Slovakia;
• Legal advice to a crowdfunding platform on setting up its contractual documentation for arranging secured loans;
• Legal advisory services consisting in the analysis, proposal and structuring of several potential IPOs of Slovak companies on the Bratislava Stock Exchange;
• Establishment of an independent financial agent;
• Continuous legal advice to the peer-to-peer platform on the conduct of its business and the potential overlaps of its activities into financial regulation;
• Legal assistance in establishing foreign fund structures for Slovak companies;
• Drafting of AML documentation and ad hoc AML advice to obliged persons in the area of financial regulation;
• Comprehensive legal, regulatory and tax advice on the creation of investor structures such as fund, bond, investment and other structures.

We are also involved in various legislative initiatives in the area of financial law and taxation of regulated entities. We have also commented on the first methodological guidance of the National Bank of Slovakia on unauthorised business in the field of collective investment.

In June 2022, we organized the largest Slovak conference dedicated to the establishment and operation of small investment funds, and in November 2023, we organized the professional conference “Real Estate – Taxes and Financing” with more than 200 paying participants, which addressed the legal and tax perspective on real estate financing through various regulatory and tax structures. At this conference, we presented on various forms of capital raising (fund structures, crowdfunding, bonds, acquisition financing, and others).

We have also commented on the area of financial regulation and capital markets in the media and discussed it at the National Bank of Slovakia.

In the prestigious Law Firm of the Year competition, we won the Recommended Law Firm for Banking and Finance in 2022 and 2023, and in 2024 we won the Capital Markets category.