Meet Chris Moss - The Real Lawyer Behind Bank of Dave

Chris Moss is a Partner in Myerson’s Corporate and Commercial teams and Head of Financial Services. With nearly 30 years of experience in corporate and commercial law, Chris has worked at leading City firms Eversheds and Pinsent Masons, and headed the Corporate and Commercial team at JMW.

Throughout his career, he has advised on mergers, acquisitions, sales, management buyouts, flotations, joint ventures, equity investments, start-ups, share options, buy-backs, and complex restructures. He has extensive experience with financial services, private equity, and property firms, and has in-house experience advising on investments and compliance. Known as the lawyer behind the Bank of Dave story, Chris led the legal work on FCA regulation and banking to help turn Dave Fishwick’s idea into reality. He continues to advise clients on navigating legal and regulatory challenges in building ambitious businesses. 

How did you first come to work with Dave Fishwick, and what were your first impressions? 

He called up my office looking for a financial lawyer and was put through to me.  I remember him saying he wanted to set up “a tiny, tiny bank.” My first thought was, who is this man? But then we started talking, and before long, we were working together. That was August 2011. 

It was only a few years after the 2008 financial crash, which was the toughest business climate I’d ever known. Big banks were stripping assets wherever they could. If you were a small business, a start-up, or had a difficult credit history, you couldn’t get a loan. Peer-to-peer lending started to emerge as an alternative, and that’s really how Bank of Dave, officially Burnley Savings and Loans, was born. It wasn’t quite a bank, but it gave people access to funding again, at a time when the system had all but shut them out. 

You and Dave have worked together for over a decade. What’s the secret to building that kind of trust between a lawyer and client? 

It’s about being in their corner, always. Sometimes it’s knowing the answers, other times it’s knowing who to call and which doors to open. Long-term, you need that personal chemistry, but you also need honesty. I’ll always tell Dave straight. That’s the foundation of our relationship and our friendship. He’s a great guy, not a bad bone in his body, but he appreciates hearing the truth, and that builds real trust. 

What legal challenges did you face in helping set up Bank of Dave? 

It was a huge challenge on every level; structural, regulatory, and cultural. Both the regulators and the system itself had to shift, which made it an enormous project. 

In the chaos post-crash, the legal framework for setting up a UK bank was extremely tough, and it still is today. Even challenger banks like Revolut took years to secure a licence. The costs run into millions in legal and regulatory fees, with no guarantee of success. Add to that the need for significant capital reserves, and you begin to see why starting a bank is so difficult. 

What advice would you give to lawyers working with unconventional clients or ideas? 

Go with it. Don’t be afraid of ideas that sound a little out of the box. Listen to your client. Your role is to temper enthusiasm with realism, but never to crush it. And never give up. Or, in Dave’s words: Rule No. 1 – don’t make a loss. Rule No. 2 – don’t forget Rule No. 1. And that doesn’t just apply to money. 

Why do you think Bank of Dave resonated so strongly with the public? 

Because at its heart, it’s a simple story: an ordinary man who just wanted to help his community when the establishment wasn’t interested Dave would meet borrowers face-to-face and personally guarantee depositors that their money was safe. That kind of personal trust and connection really struck a chord. 

From the original documentaries to the Netflix movies and now a musical, the story has kept growing, because people want to believe in something better than spreadsheets and shareholder returns. 

What was it like seeing yourself portrayed on screen? 

Surreal, really. It’s not every day you find out you’re going to be portrayed in a Netflix movie. Joel Fry did a great job. The script wasn’t exactly how things happened, but it captured the spirit, and that was the main thing. 

And then there was the premiere, which was incredible. Burnley hosted it, keeping the event firmly rooted in the community where it all began. That felt perfect. The film captured the energy of what we were trying to achieve, and to see that celebrated with the people who inspired it was unforgettable. My wife gave me a few digs in the ribs during the Phoebe Dynevor scenes (which were entirely fictional, I should stress!), but that only added to the fun of it. 

Do you and Dave still work together today? 

Yes, we’re still on the mission. Dave and I continue to work together through Myerson, pushing forward our shared vision of community banking. If it works in the US, in Germany, in India, why not here? We’re still campaigning, still engaging with the government, and still trying to show that there’s a smarter, more sustainable way to do banking. 

And beyond that, we’re friends. If I’m not catching up with him at a film premiere, it’ll be back at the Myerson office. He always has great new ideas to share, and I love hearing them. 

And finally, what do you hope people take away from the story of Bank of Dave? 

Never give up. Think outside the box. Don’t accept “that’s just how it is.” If something’s broken, challenge it and build something better. That’s how Bank of Dave began. 

I feel lucky to have been, and to still be, part of something so transformative in British banking. Burnley Savings and Loans is still applying to become a fully regulated UK bank, and the vision has always been about creating a financial model that grows the local economy rather than just serving shareholders. That’s what makes Bank of Dave so powerful, and why the story is far from over.