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The speed and volume of change in the crypto asset markets has accelerated across the globe, with established financial institutions increasingly entering the sector whilst regulators look to keep pace. Recent high-profile developments and market volatility have led to growing calls for scrutiny and regulatory controls. Navigating this fast paced environment, within a sometimes disjointed regulatory framework, can be challenging.

This virtual seminar series provides insights on how the regulatory landscape is changing and the future of crypto within the financial services sector.

If you have any questions regarding these trainings, please contact Emma Dunbar.

Please note: the high-level guidance provided in these sessions is not intended to be comprehensive legal advice.

Crypto Boot Camp 2022 Glossary

To accompany this series we have developed an A-Z of blockchain and crypto jargon.

Crypto Bootcamp Glossary

DOWNLOAD GLOSSARY

The Crypto Ecosystem

This training session explains the main crypto legal structures and the participants in the crypto ecosystem, including exchanges, wallets and custodians.

Speakers: Mark SimpsonJulian HuiSteffi IllegemsSubatra ThiruchittampalamSarah Williams

Integrating Crypto into Established Financial Services
Part 1: Funds and Listings

This panel explores fund structuring and the challenges for conventional funds investing in crypto assets, including a discussion on crypto as part of wealth management and the rise of tokenised bonds.

Speakers: Bill FuggleJoy LamStephanie MagnusCatherine MartouginAnsgar Schott

Integrating Crypto into Established Financial Services
Part 2: Practical Considerations

This panel covers practical issues such as settlement in crypto, compliance with safeguarding/custody and outsourcing requirements, the territoriality of offerings, and regulatory warnings to consumers.

Speakers: Karen Man; Melody Hoay; Julian HuiShemira JeevaratnamSubatra Thiruchittampalam

Crypto Risk: Significant Legal and Regulatory Risks

This panel reviews different key areas of risk in the sector, including financial crime, litigation and regulatory enforcement, sanctions issues, tax compliance and cyber security.

Speakers: Philip AnnettJennifer ConnorsScott FrewingAlex LamyAiden O’LearySarah Williams

A Deep Dive into NFTs

This panel looks at the rise of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) in gaming, digital arts and more and the interrelationship with financial services regulation.

Speakers: Manuel LorenzSue McLeanAshlin PerumallKullarat PhongsathapornKevin YuanOlivier Van den broeke

DeFi

What is ‘DeFi’ (decentralised finance)? This panel reviews the interrelationship with financial services regulation and understanding DeFi staking.

Speakers: Iris BarsanPaula De BiaseAlfonso Martinez-BejaranoTaylor ReidAiden O’Leary

Growth in Crypto: Capital Raising, M&A and Scale Up

Our last panel looks at issues in crypto business growth, including scale ups, crypto-driven M&A, financing, risk and restructuring.Recording TBC

Speakers: Debra DandeneauHaden HendersonAshlin PerumallMark Simpson

Financial Services Regulatory

Our global team delivers expert guidance to financial services providers on navigating through regulatory complexities in both established and emerging markets.

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Author

Mark heads the Financial Services & Regulatory (FSR) practice group in London and co-leads the FinTech group. He also acts as Chair of the FSR practice for the EMEA region and sits on the Global FSR Steering Committee. Mark is ranked as a Leading Individual in Legal 500 2022 for Financial Services (Non-Contentious Regulatory) and is individually ranked in Chambers 2022 for FinTech. He is described in these publications as being "very knowledgeable" and "very approachable" with "a wonderful range of FinTech experience" and as someone who is "clear, commercial and pragmatic and understands all the issues in detail." He has authored a number of articles and contributions for leading journals and other publications, most notably the Journal of International Banking and Financial Law, the International Guide to Money Laundering Law and Practice, and A Practitioner's Guide to the Law and Regulation of Financial Crime.

Author

Julian is a senior associate in Baker McKenzie's Financial Services Group in London. Julian advises financial institutions including international and local fintechs, investment and retail banks, asset managers, investment advisers, payment services firms and product issuers on compliance with UK and European regulatory obligations. Julian also has experience in advising on the spectrum of regulated financial services and products including deposit products, payment accounts and electronic money products, consumer credit, insurance, derivatives, managed funds, structured debt and equities. Julian has completed a secondment to UBS AG and Western Union Business Solutions, in their in-house legal and compliance teams. Duties included advising equity derivatives, fixed income derivatives and equities teams on general commercial and regulatory issues. He is currently on secondment from the Australian offices of the Firm and has extensive experience with both Australian and English financial regulation.

Author

Subatra Thiruchittampalam is an associate in Baker McKenzie’s Financial Services & Regulatory and Corporate group currently based in Dusseldorf. Prior to joining the Firm's Dusseldorf office, Subatra worked in the Baker McKenzie offices in Frankfurt and Luxembourg and at an international law office and the Public Prosecutor's Office.

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Sarah Williams is an associate in the financial services practice in London. Sarah advises a broad range of clients on financial services legal and regulatory issues. Sarah's practice includes advising on the regulation of payment services and electronic money, investment firms and consumer credit providers and anti-money laundering compliance issues.

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Bill Fuggle is a partner in the Sydney office of Baker McKenzie where he is a leading adviser in innovative listed investment products, fintech and neobanks, financial services regulatory advice, fund formation and capital markets.

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Joy Lam is a registered foreign lawyer in Baker McKenzie’s Hong Kong office and a member of the Firm's Financial Services Group. Joy's practice focuses on advising clients within the virtual assets ecosystem in relation to virtual asset funds, tokenized funds, non-fund tokenized offerings, and the complex and rapidly evolving regulatory requirements for providing infrastructure that services the virtual assets ecosystem. Joy’s representative experience includes advising on Asia’s first open ended tokenized fund, Asia’s first closed ended tokenized fund and securing the first approval from Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission for a 100% virtual assets fund that permits subscriptions and redemptions to be effected in the form of virtual assets. She also advises on a wide range of traditional fund formation transactions, including real estate funds, private equity funds and hedge funds and advises on fund related corporate matters including upstream management and seeding arrangements.

Author

Stephanie Magnus co-heads the Asia Pacific Financial Institutions Group and heads up the Financial Services Regulatory Practice Group in Singapore. Stephanie is ranked Band 1 for FinTech in Singapore by Chambers FinTech 2020. She is also ranked as a Leading Individual for Financial Services Regulatory: Local Firms in Singapore by Legal 500 Asia Pacific 2020. She is recognised as a leading lawyer for Banking & Finance: Regulatory in Singapore by Chambers Asia Pacific and Chambers Global 2020. Stephanie was quoted in Chambers Asia Pacific for her "timely, practical and business-oriented" advice, with a "deep understanding of the regulatory regime." She is also recognised as "very business-savvy and brilliant every time," and is admired for her "very strong grasp of the legal issues from both a technical and practical perspective."

Author

Catherine Martougin is a partner in the Funds & Asset Management team of the Baker McKenzie Luxembourg office. She has more than 20 years' experience in business law. Prior to joining the Firm, she practiced in elite international law firms in Paris and Luxembourg.

Author

Dr. Ansgar Schott is a partner in Baker McKenzie's Zurich office. He has been recognized as a leading banking and finance lawyer by publications such as Legal 500, Chambers and Who's Who Legal. In 2016, Ansgar and his team received the European Banking and Finance Deal of the Year from The Lawyer for their work on a structured finance transaction. He is co-editor and author of the leading Swiss financial markets commentaries and lectures Law & Economics at the University of St. Gallen.

Author

Karen Man is a partner in Baker McKenzie’s Financial Services group, leading the non-contentious Financial Services Regulatory practice. Her clients include global, Chinese and local banks, fund managers, brokers/dealers, money service operators and fintech firms. Karen is admitted to practice in Hong Kong, the UK, and Australia.

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Shemira is a senior associate in Baker McKenzie's Sydney office. Her practice focuses on FinTech, corporate crime and financial services.

Author

Philip Annett is a partner based in Baker McKenzie’s London office focussing on complex investigations, litigation and compliance matters. He has an in-depth knowledge of working with UK and international regulators and enforcement agencies, having previously been a senior lawyer in the Enforcement Division at the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) where he led some of the regulator's highest-profile enforcement cases. He also previously worked in the Bribery and Corruption Division at the Serious Fraud Office.

Author

Scott Frewing represents clients in complex civil and criminal tax matters, as well as other complex financial investigations and litigation. He has successfully defended taxpayers from some of the largest transfer pricing cases brought by the US Internal Revenue Service, obtained multiple tax refunds in excess of USD100 million, and successfully represented financial institutions and individuals in IRS and US Department of Justice investigations relating to offshore tax accounts and other allegations of tax fraud. Earlier in his career, Mr. Frewing was a federal prosecutor and was a founding member of the US Department of Justice’s first Computer Hacking and Intellectual Property Unit.

Author

Alexandre Lamy joined Baker McKenzie in 2009 and currently works in the Firm's International Trade Practice Group. He assists clients with sanctions and export controls (Export Administration Regulations (EAR); International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR)) and he advises clients on corporate compliance matters. Alex contributes regularly to Baker McKenzie's Sanctions & Export Controls Update blog.
Since August 2021, Alex has been the co-chair of the ABA Section of International Law’s Export Controls & Economic Sanctions Committee. Prior to that appointment, he served on the steering group and as a Vice Chair of the Committee, starting back in August 2011. Alex has organized multiple events regarding recent developments in US trade sanctions and export controls for the Committee.
Alex was recognized in Who's Who Legal 2020 Edition of its Global Guide to Trade & Customs Lawyers as a "leading individual" in North America on International Sanctions and the publication reported that he "attracts applause for delivering 'a practical service which understands the needs of the business'. His 'ready availability to clients, thorough research and strong presentation skills' are further acclaimed." He was also recognized in the 2019 Edition of the same publication as being "much sought after by clients who praise his 'advice of the highest quality' and add, 'He is technically very good on OFAC sanctions issues and military/dual use export controls.'" Alex was named by Financier Worldwide in, “POWER PLAYERS: International Trade & Sanctions 2021 - Distinguished Advisers.

Author

Dr. Manuel Lorenz joined Baker McKenzie in 1999 and currently serves as Head of German Financial Services Regulatory Practice. Dr. Lorenz has been admitted as a lawyer in Germany since 1991 and in England and Wales since 1996. In addition to his practice, Dr. Lorenz lectures at the Institute for Law and Finance at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfurt am Main.

Author

Sue is a partner in Baker McKenzie's IP, Data and Technology team based in London. Sue specialises in major technology deals including cloud, outsourcing, digital transformation and development and licensing. She also advises on a range of legal and regulatory issues relating to the development and roll-out of new technologies including AI, blockchain/DLT, metaverse and crypto-assets. Her IP and commercial experience includes drafting, advising on and negotiating a wide range of intellectual property and commercial agreements including IP licences and assignment agreements, long-term supply and distribution agreements. She also assists clients in preparing terms of business and related documentation for new business processes and offerings and coordinating global roll-outs. Sue is also a key member of our transactional practice, providing strategic support on the commercial, technology and intellectual property aspects of M&A transactions and joint ventures, including advising on transitional services agreements and other key ancillary IP and commercial agreements. Sue is ranked as a leading lawyer in Chambers for Information Technology & Outsourcing and Fintech Legal and in Legal500 for Commercial Contracts, IT & Telecoms, TMT and Fintech. Clients say of Sue "Sue is outstanding", "She is a really good and very committed lawyer", "Excellent…. Very capable, wouldn’t hesitate to use on IT/TMT/Outsourcing matters." Sue was named in the Standout 35 of the Women in FinTech Powerlist 2020.

Author

Ashlin Perumall is a partner in Baker McKenzie's corporate/M&A and IPTech practice groups in Johannesburg. Ashlin specialises in technology-focused matters, including M&A and venture capital transactions, and the commercial aspects of intellectual property (IP). His practice extends to advising on emerging technology business models and establishing legal, compliance or diligence assessment frameworks for novel targets in various industries, where a high degree of technical expertise is required. These include acting as key advisor to clients entering the fintech (including paytech, open banking, digital banking and financial APIs), blockchain and distributed ledger tech, AI/Machine Learning as a Service (MLaaS) in the auditing industry and digital asset sector. He has over a decade of experience is assessing emerging technology and novel IP acquisition targets. Ashlin has also worked in the Firm's London office and served as a Fellow to the World Economic Forum's Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) in San Francisco as part of our partnership with the forum to address global, regional and industry policy issues in respect of 4IR technologies, conducting regulatory and policy research, and paper writing as part of the Digital Currency Governance Consortium (DCGC).

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Kullarat Phongsathaporn is a Special Counsel in Baker McKenzie, Bangkok office.

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Kevin Yuan is senior counsel of FenXun Partners which is a premier Chinese law firm. FenXun established a Joint Operation Office with Baker McKenzie in China as Baker McKenzie FenXun that was approved by the Shanghai Justice Bureau in 2015.

Author

Olivier Van den broeke is a senior associate in the Financial Services Regulatory & Insurance Practice Group in the Antwerp office. He joined Baker McKenzie in 2013.

Author

Iris Barsan joined Baker McKenzie in October 2019 after practicing as a lawyer in a Franco-German law firm. Prior to that, Iris worked for several years in the legal department of the Prudential Control and Resolution Authority and as a financial lawyer in a French banking group (insurance and investment banking). Iris holds a doctorate in French and German law, an LL.M. from the University of Cologne and is a former student of the ENA (Willy Brandt promotion). In addition to her practice as a lawyer, Iris is an assistant professor at the University of Paris XII. She teaches company law (French, European and comparative), European business law, financial regulation and personal data and new technologies law.

Author

Paula De Biase heads the Fintech and Financial Services Regulation (FSR) Group in Spain, including also the Funds practice. She also sits in the Global FSR Steering Committee of the Firm and acts as co-lead of the FSR practice for the EMEA region.
With more than 15 years' experience in financial regulation, she has advised national and international clients in various areas of the financial services sector: payment services, fund management, investment services, consumer credit and other banking and insurance services, including Fintech initiatives and other online and mobile solutions.
Paula has taught Banking Law in the Master's programmes of several universities: the International Legal Consultancy degree at IE; the International Law, Foreign Trade and International Relations degree at ISDE; the Business Law degree at the Universidad de Navarra, and the Venture Capital and Entrepreneurship degree at INCARI/Rafael del Pino Foundation.
She is individually ranked in Chambers 2023 for FinTech and Financial Regulation. She is described in these publications as "an excellent lawyer: she is expert in all things FinTech, regulatory and payments. She has a deep understanding of financial regulation in Spain and has considerable experience dealing with regulatory authorities there. Her advice is always considered, comprehensive and most importantly practical and commercially focused."

Author

Alfonso focuses his practice on financial technology (Fintech), regulatory compliance and real estate finance (including syndicated loan facilities). He regularly advises Fintech companies (local as well as multinationals) on regulatory and transactional matters, including e-wallet platforms, crowdfunding entities, online lending B2B platforms, digital banks, card payment processors (aggregators and acquirers), cryptocurrency exchanges and comparison product and services platforms. He also works on the negotiation of loan facilities, and their security interest documents.

Author

Taylor Reid is a Tax Partner in Baker McKenzie's Palo Alto office and a member of the Firm's TMT and Fintech industry groups. With 30 years of experience in international tax planning, Taylor has been recognized as a leading U.S. tax advisor by International Tax Review. He is also a frequent speaker and co-author of a number of books and articles on the taxation of software and electronic commerce.