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UK

Simon Deane-Johns

Partner

England & Wales

020 3319 3700

simon.deane-johns@keystonelaw.co.uk

“Simon brings a rare level of intellectual clarity to giving advice about complex business and payments models. He’s my first port of call for any challenges in this area! ”

- Jim Moodie, COO at Prolific

Simon specialises in online financial services, e-commerce, IT, SaaS, privacy, personal data, cryptoassets, smart contracts and AI. His clients include e-money and payment services providers, consumer credit lenders and brokers, online peer-to-peer finance platforms, retailers, marketplaces and data providers. Simon is highly experienced in his field and has consulted as in-house payments counsel to WorldPay and Amazon.com.

Previously, Simon was General Counsel & Company Secretary of Zopa, the world’s first online peer-to-peer lending platform. He was Legal & Compliance Director for a mortgage and consumer credit business in GE and a Director and General Counsel of Earthport plc, the listed payment services provider.

Expertise

Simon specialises in online financial services, e-commerce and IT. His clients include e-money and payment services providers, lenders and peer-to-peer finance platforms. Simon is a Senior Fellow of the Finance Innovation Lab.

Experience

  • Advised on the launch of innovative online financial services including Zopa, Prodigy Finance, Abundance, Crowdbnk, LinkedFinance, Proplend, Invest & Fund, Nutmeg, Borro, Yoyo, The Money Platform, Nester, FundingXchange, RoosterMoney, EnerSave Capital’s “energy-as-a-service”, DNIZN and four Amazon services in the EU.
  • Co-founded and co-invented Zopa (zopa.com).
  • Advised Zopa in 2016 on the first securitisation of UK consumer loans originated via a marketplace platform.
  • Advised multiple peer-to-peer lending platforms, including those offering commercial property lending, regulated personal loans, High Cost Short Term Credit and sharia-compliant conditional sale programmes.
  • Advised several authorised consumer credit and consumer hire firms on appropriate form of agreements, including regulated, exempt and unregulated agreements.
  • Advise start-ups and regulated/non-regulated businesses launching services on financial/AML regulation including cryptoasset exchange and custodian wallet services.
  • Advise regulated payment service providers on regulatory compliance (e.g. prepaid cards, safeguarding, EBA outsourcing, wind-downs, dormant accounts, cross-border issues).
  • Provided specialist online financial service advice to a company in the setup of a new structure relating to the metaverse (educational platform).
  • Provided assistance on online financial and e-commerce aspects to a tech start-up developing Web3, blockchain and NFT tech.

Simon specialises in technology, online financial services, e-commerce and IT. He has worked in-house at Reuters, GE, WorldPay and Amazon, as well as fintech start-ups Earthport and Zopa. He chairs the SCL Advisory Board.

Experience

  • Consulted to WorldPay on European payments, acquisition and separation from RBS, and service terms consolidation.
  • Consulted to Amazon.com on European payments, e-money licence, bank/card negotiations, Amazon credit cards, gift cards, currency converter, and cross-border payments.
  • Managed legal and compliance risk for GE’s mortgage business (projects, litigation strategy, regulatory/public affairs).
  • Managed Earthport’s £25m private placement, AIM introduction, product and systems development.
  • Initiated and coordinated e-commerce strategy for DLA.

Simon specialises in online financial services, e-commerce and IT. His clients include e-money and payment services providers, retailers, marketplaces and data providers.

Experience

  • Advised several airlines on acquiring and other e-commerce/payments arrangements.
  • Advised a card acquirer dealing with airlines on various contractual and regulatory issues.
  • Consulted to Amazon on various EU retail-related financial products (gift cards, credit cards, currency conversion).
  • Advised several operators of airline/travel networks on structural implications of UK/EU payments regulation.

Simon specialises in online financial services, e-commerce and IT. He advises gambling and gaming clients on specialised project finance, agreements for merchant card acquiring facilities as well as e-money/payment services.

Experience

  • Advised Triple Dragon Ltd on 60+ specialised gaming development finance deals.
  • Advised licensed online betting/gambling operators on merchant card acquiring, e-money/payment services.
  • Advised gambling operators on use of vouchers, stored value accounts, and regulatory implications.
  • Provided inter-group services agreement advice for payment services of a Danish gambling operator.

Simon specialises in online financial services, e-commerce and IT. His clients include e-money and payment services providers, online peer-to-peer finance platforms, retailers, marketplaces and data providers.

Experience

  • Advised start-ups and other businesses launching cryptoasset exchange and custodian wallet services.
  • Advised on financial/e-commerce aspects of Web3, blockchain, NFT technologies.
  • Provided specialist financial service advice for a metaverse-based education platform.

Please note: The experience list above may include examples of work completed prior to joining Keystone Law.

Recognition

Recognised by the Legal 500 for Bank Lending; Investment Grade Debt and Syndicated loans 2025-2026

Fellow of the Society for Computers and Law (where he chaired the Advisory Board)

Senior Fellow of The Finance Innovation Lab

Simon qualified as a solicitor in 1996. Prior to joining Keystone Law in 2011, he worked at the following firms:

  • DLA Piper