Hogan Lovells has hired technology lawyer John Salmon to join the firm’s fintech team in London as a partner. He will sit in the corporate practice and be an active member of the financial institutions and technology, media and telecommunications sectors.

Salmon joins from Pinsent Masons, where he’s been working since 1999, most recently in the role of global sector head for financial services. He focuses on advising financial institutions on innovative digital projects including IT procurement, outsourcing, cloud, cyber security, and digital payments. In his over 20 years’ experience in the sector, he also set-up out-law.com, a popular law firm website, and has advised clients including as AXA, Royal London, Aviva and Zurich.

Salmon’s hire follows on the firm’s ambition to become more prominent in the fintech sector, having announced a strategic partnership in November 2015 with Innovate Finance, an organisation championing the UK as a global centre of sustainable fintech innovation.

Rachel Kent, global head of Hogan Lovells’ financial institutions sector, comments: “Technology is an important feature of the legal market with transactions frequently being driven or shaped by technological change, and both clients and law firms innovating to launch new products and services. The UK and Ireland is currently the fastest-growing region for fintech investment, making this the ideal time to grow our fintech practice with the hire of John, whose experience complements perfectly that of our regulatory, commercial, and cyber teams.”