Solutions / Launch & Expand
Tell us what you want to build. We’ll tell you where and how to build it.
For financial businesses entering regulated markets or moving into new ones: the regulatory model, the licences, the compliance program and the operating plan, in the right order.
Who it’s for
Built for firms at a threshold.
- A founder or executive team launching a payments, lending, brokerage, fund or digital-asset business and deciding where to be regulated.
- An established firm entering a second or third jurisdiction and needing to know the cost, the timeline and the operating model before committing.
- A business that has grown past its first licence and needs the compliance function rebuilt to match.
What you get
Build it right.
Launch is a sequence, and most delays come from doing it out of order. We run it in order.
Business and regulatory model design
What you are, in regulatory terms, and the cleanest structure that lets you do what you plan to do.
Regulatory perimeter analysis
Which activities need a licence, which do not, and where the line moves as the product grows.
Entity and jurisdiction strategy
Where to incorporate, where to be authorised, and how the entities relate.
Licensing strategy and application preparation
The route, the file, the business plan, the policies and the responses regulators expect.
Regulator interaction
Meetings, questions and follow-ups handled with people who have sat on both sides of the table.
Compliance program build
Policies, controls, monitoring, training and governance, sized to your risk rather than to a bank’s.
Technology and vendor selection
KYC, screening, monitoring and case management chosen for the model you actually run.
CCO / MLRO staffing
The people the regulator will want to meet, permanent or fractional.
Launch readiness
A final pass against everything a regulator, a bank or an auditor will ask on day one.
Options
Licensing routes we support.
Taft designs and prepares; it does not act as your law firm, and no adviser can guarantee an authorisation. Where local counsel is required, we work alongside it.
United States
- State money transmitter licences
- NYDFS BitLicense and virtual currency approvals
- Broker-dealer and FINRA membership
- SEC investment adviser registration
- NFA / CFTC registrations where applicable
United Kingdom and Europe
- UK FCA permissions
- EU MiCA / CASP authorisation
- EU investment-firm, payment and e-money licensing
Middle East and Asia
- UAE VARA, ADGM and DIFC regulatory pathways
- Singapore and Hong Kong pathways for payments and digital assets
- Other jurisdiction-specific routes on request
Expand / Where next?
Compare jurisdictions before you commit to one.
International expansion is a regulatory decision before it is a commercial one. We compare the markets you are considering on the things that decide the outcome.
Regulatory cost and licensing burden
Fees, capital requirements, timelines and the weight of ongoing reporting.
Staffing and substance
Who has to be where, in what role, and whether it can be outsourced.
Time to market
Realistic sequencing from application to first customer.
Tax and legal coordination
Handled with external specialists, so the regulatory plan and the corporate plan agree.
Operating model
The compliance infrastructure the chosen market will require, and how it connects to what you already run.
The Market Entry Matrix
One document that shows the choice.
The Expand engagement ends in the Taft Market Entry Matrix: a country comparison, a regulatory heat map, a licensing roadmap, a cost and complexity matrix, recommended sequencing and a target operating model. It is written to be put in front of a board.
Digital assets
The U.S. opportunity is changing. Is your regulatory strategy changing with it?
Stablecoins, tokenisation, custody, payments and exchange models each sit differently against U.S. federal and state rules, and the rules are moving. We build U.S. digital-asset strategy the same way: perimeter first, then licensing, banking relationships and the compliance program.
Regulatory perimeter and licensing
Which parts of the model are money transmission, securities, commodities or none of the above, and what that means state by state.
AML, sanctions and banking relationships
The program a bank will accept and a regulator will examine.
Market-entry strategy
Sequencing U.S. entry against the other markets you operate in.
How it runs
How an engagement runs.
Map
A working session on your model, products, customers and target markets. You leave with the regulatory perimeter drawn.
Decide
Jurisdiction and licensing options compared on cost, time, substance and risk. One recommendation, with the reasoning.
Build
Applications, program, people and technology, run as one plan with one owner.
Launch
Regulator interaction through to authorisation, and a readiness review before the first customer.
Taft provides regulatory strategy and compliance services. It is not a law firm and does not provide legal advice; where legal advice is required we work with your counsel or introduce specialists. No adviser can guarantee a licence or an authorisation.