Ankita is a senior associate with Spice Route Legal’s Technology, Media and Telecommunications practice group, specializing in advisory and transactional work for the growing financial technology (fintech) industry. She is recognized as one of India’s leading fintech lawyers, with her expertise spanning lending and payments; blockchain, data protection, cryptocurrency, and artificial intelligence; financial sector regulations, KYC compliance advisory and insure-tech; and the prevention of money laundering.
Ankita regularly advises both domestic and international market leaders within the fintech industry, and her clients include some of the most exciting banks, non-banking financial companies and start-ups in the space – including digital lending and fund-raising platforms, payment solution providers and aggregators, and micro-finance companies. Her expertise is widely recognised, including by Legal500, Chambers & Partners and IFLR.
In recent months, Ankita has –
- advised multiple prominent fintech players on the Indian regulatory framework, new initiatives, and compliances applicable to the financial services sector, while simultaneously liaising with the RBI, the regulatory watchdog, on the same;
- provided proactive advisory on product structuring, to some of India’s most innovative fintech products, to keep them in compliance with ever-changing financial sector regulations – such as assisting one of India’s’ largest payment gateways with structuring their lending solution;
- assisted multiple clients with their NBFC licensing applications to the Reserve Bank of India, from payment and account aggregators to lending solution providers;
- advised several companies on the roll-out of their “Credit Cards as a Service” solutions;
- advised a neo-bank on their global operations, including advising on Indian payment aggregator licensing guidelines, and on the neo-bank’s expansion into Singapore and the licenses needed for their operations, in that jurisdiction; and
- developed and negotiated model contracts for India’s innovative Account Aggregator ecosystem.
Prior to joining Spice Route Legal in 2016, Ankita has worked with the in-house legal team of a Singapore-based fintech company.
