Orbis Exchange Group enters the football market through partnership with Lagom Sports Compliance
Payments and treasury specialist teams up with a football-only compliance advisory to support clubs, agencies and investors managing high-value currency flows under a tightening regulatory regime.
LONDON, 21 August 2026 - Orbis Exchange Group, the global payments and treasury partner with offices in London, Dubai and Los Angeles, has agreed a strategic partnership with Lagom Sports Compliance, the leading governance, risk, compliance and anti-financial crime advisory working exclusively with professional football. The partnership covers mutual client referrals, jointly authored content and a shared presence at sector events and aims to help Orbis further enter into the sports market.
Professional football is a heavily international industry operated, in most cases, by lean finance teams. A mid-table club may settle a transfer fee in euros across three seasons, receive broadcast and sponsorship income in several currencies, pay agent commissions to counterparties in a dozen jurisdictions and draw shareholder funding from an overseas holding company, all without the treasury function a corporate of equivalent turnover would take for granted. The result is avoidable cost, unmanaged currency risk and, increasingly, avoidable regulatory exposure.
Orbis addresses the first two by giving organisations the benefit of a treasury function without the overhead of building one. Rather than tying clients to a single bank or provider, the firm works across a panel of banking, fintech and payment partners, matching counterparties and payment routes to the client's profile, and advising on exposure across the wider supply chain rather than transaction by transaction.
Why football, and why now
The regulatory environment around the sport is changing quickly. In England, the Independent Football Regulator will open its provisional licence application window on 1 November 2026, with the regime binding from the 2027/28 season and around 116 clubs in scope. In the European Union, professional clubs and licensed agents come within the formal anti-money laundering perimeter on 10 July 2029, bringing due diligence, source of funds and transaction monitoring expectations that will be familiar to anyone who has worked in regulated financial services.
Those requirements are evidential rather than presentational. Organisations will need to demonstrate how they satisfied themselves about counterparties and money movements, and the record that demonstrates it is largely a payments record. That is where the two firms' work meets.
What the partnership covers
Orbis will introduce clients to Lagom where licensing readiness, anti-money laundering frameworks or governance capacity is the constraint. Lagom will introduce clients to Orbis where currency exposure, banking infrastructure or payment routing needs attention. The firms will publish co-authored articles across both platforms and attend industry events together. Orbis provides no regulatory or compliance advice, and Lagom provides no foreign exchange or payment services. Each remains responsible for its own scope.
Comment
“Football is a global business, but many clubs and agencies are still expected to manage complex, high-value international flows with relatively small finance teams. We are entering the sector because our role is not simply to execute a transaction; it is to help clients build the right payment, banking and currency-risk structure around it. Lagom’s specialist compliance expertise makes this a genuinely complementary partnership.”
— William Fuller, Co-Founder, Orbis Exchange Group
“Football is a genuinely international business run by small finance teams under intense public scrutiny. Clubs and agencies are about to be asked to evidence their money movements to a standard financial services has lived with for years, and that evidence begins with how payments are structured and routed in the first place. Orbis brings capability to a part of the market that has been under-served, and our clients will benefit from it.”
— Jonathan Greenstein, Co-founder and Director, Lagom Sports Compliance
Orbis offers a no-obligation review of foreign exchange arrangements to organisations across sport and other sectors. The first jointly authored article from the two firms will be published later this year.
About Orbis Exchange Group
Orbis Exchange Group is a global payments and treasury partner with offices in London, Dubai and Los Angeles. The firm provides cross-border payments in more than 130 currencies to over 180 countries, named multi-currency accounts, foreign exchange risk management and lending solutions that finance international and domestic payables. Services are delivered through a panel of established banking, fintech and payment partners, supported by dedicated account management and a platform giving clients full visibility of transfers and incoming payments. Payment and e-money services are provided by appropriately authorised third-party providers. Orbis Exchange Group Limited, company no. 11360185. orbis-exchange.com
About Lagom Sports Compliance
Lagom Sports Compliance is the leading specialist governance, risk, compliance and anti-financial crime advisory firm built exclusively for professional football. Founded by Jonathan Greenstein and Isabel Lemes, the firm advises clubs, agents, investors and competition organisers across the United Kingdom and the European Union on Independent Football Regulator licensing under the Football Governance Act 2025, EU anti-money laundering obligations, UEFA financial sustainability requirements, football agent regulation and operational resilience. Its consultants come from regulated financial services backgrounds. Lagom Sports Compliance is a trading name of Lagom Consultants Limited, registered in England and Wales, company number 15527181. lagomsportscompliance.com
Media contacts
Orbis Exchange Group: William Fuller – williamfuller@orbis-exchange.co.uk
Lagom Sports Compliance: Jonathan Greenstein, jg@lagomsportscompliance.com
