RICHARD WILLIS

Alston & Bird LLP

Partner

Richard Willis is a partner in the Payments Group at Alston & Bird, LLP, and focuses his practice on the general representation of both public and privately held businesses within the payments industry.

Originally from the Philippines, Rich is a U.S. trained lawyer (University of Michigan, cum laude, 1992) that has been based in Brussels for over a decade.   As part of serving his payments industry clients across the globe, Rich routinely advises on regulatory and compliance matters, including new market entry and data protection/data privacy/card and cyber-security.   Rich has over 20 years’ experience in advising and serving as lead outside counsel to payments industry participants, including global financial institutions, merchant acquirers, card issuers, card schemes, PSPs, ISOs and MSPs, and B2B payment companies.

In addition to the general representation of the legal, regulatory, and quasi-regulatory (card scheme  compliance) interests of his payment industry clients, Rich has particular expertise with complex, international acquisition and long-term joint venture transactions in the payments industry, including cross-border and other multi-jurisdictional transactions.  Rich has served as lead counsel in scores of such acquisitions and joint ventures/strategic alliances throughout Europe, North America, South America, and Asia and is ranked inChambers Global: The World’s Leading Lawyers for Business.

The Payments Group at Alston & Bird—consisting of over 20 attorneys—is a leading legal resource for the payments industry, with advisors based in the United States and Europe working on engagements worldwide. Rich and his colleagues have varied, global experience in all sectors of the payments industry, including merchant acquiring, card issuing, mobile payments, ecommerce, payment networks, stored value, gift cards, payroll cards and other prepaid products, health care payments, B2B payments, and other traditional and emerging payment systems.

Website:  Alston & Bird, LLP