As another year of uncertainty and disruption draws to a close, our Baker McKenzie Financial Institutions lawyers look ahead at the potential disruptors impacting the industry in 2024, all against a background of economic and geopolitical risk.
Our report, 2024: What’s on the Radar for Financial Institutions?, gives an overview of the challenges facing the sector, drawing on our three risk radars, one for each of the forces that are transforming the financial sector.
Fintech and digital transformation – The business models of financial institutions are reshaping how these institutions deliver services, earn revenue and monetize value.
Sustainability – Market and investor expectations and commitments around sustainable finance and environmental, social and governance (ESG) considerations are changing global businesses’ operations and are now at the very heart of decision-making.
Regulatory scrutiny – Regulators are increasing their scrutiny of every operational aspect of financial services and markets as they hold businesses to account.
Besides these megatrends, our report also spotlights two subsectors, financial sponsors (including asset managers) and investment banks. Insights touch on the increasing scrutiny, the potential impact of AI regulation, plus transactional challenges and competition from private capital.
We hope that you find our 2024 forecast for financial institutions of interest. Our partners would be more than happy to discuss any of these issues and risks further with you.
Emmanuel Hadjidakis is a principal in Baker McKenzie's Finance & Projects team in Singapore. He is currently chair of the Global Financial Institutions Group at Baker McKenzie. Emmanuel has worked in Singapore for over 15 years and has prior experience working in London and Sydney. IFLR1000 describes him as "top-tier, and absolutely up there with the best" and points out, "Lenders consider [him] a rising star in the Singapore market and rate him as one of its leading practitioners." Chambers describes him as "a first-rate banking, finance and restructuring lawyer" and "a strong legal mind with an ability to manage clients across both sides".
Eva-Maria is a partner in our Austrian corporate / M&A group and a member of our global sustainability practice. She acts as global lead sustainability partner for our financial institutions industry group, heads Baker McKenzie's capital markets practice in Austria and is a member of our EMEA steering committee for capital markets. Eva-Maria is a dual-qualified lawyer, admitted to practice in Austria and New York. Prior to joining Baker McKenzie's Vienna office in 2008, Eva-Maria worked in the New York, Paris and Frankfurt offices of a well-known US law firm.
Marc Thorley is a partner in the Baker McKenzie Dispute Resolution team, based in London. Marc joined the Firm from another leading multinational firm in 2020 having been a partner there for 12 years, located in London and Hong Kong, and acting as the firm’s Asia Head of Dispute Resolution.
Chambers 2020 describes Marc as a "seasoned litigator", and praised him for having "particular experience in financial litigation", "misconduct investigations, breach of contract and mis-selling claims". He is also recognised by other directories for his strong litigation background, including Legal 500.
Alessandro Celli’s broad experience includes technology-related transaction work, intellectual property and competition law, IT, data protection and cyber risk, commercial litigation, sports and entertainment law. Alessandro regularly advises Swiss and international clients on technology-related national and cross-border transactions (JVs, licences, distribution, sale and purchase of technology or related businesses and brands). He counsels on sourcing and data protection, competition law and business restructuring as well as sports and entertainment law in relation to media or sponsoring. As a member of the IP and Disputes practice groups, Alessandro is leading the IT/C (TMT) team in our Zurich office. His actual focus lies primarily on new technologies and business processes within a digitalized global economy and the associated legal and compliance challenges. His work has been increasingly determined by co-operational (sourcing) work as well as regulatory items involving the rapidly developing new technologies with a large impact also on the financial services sector. Alessandro has chaired the committee on legislation and practice at the Zurich Bar Association and is a member of the boards of selected Swiss companies.
Gabriel Gomez-Giglio is partner at Baker McKenzie’s Buenos Aires office, chair of the Latin America Banking & Finance Practice of Baker McKenzie and a member of the Global Steering Committee of the Firm’s Financial Institutions Industry Group. He advises clients on a variety of general commercial issues. His practice focuses on the areas of transactional and regulatory matters, including but not limited to multinational financial transactions, commercial agreements and mergers and acquisitions.
Gabriel is a member of the Board and Adjunct Professor of Law at Universidad Torcuato Di Tella and a visiting professor with the Centre for Commercial Law Studies, Queen Mary College, University of London.
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.
Christoph Kurth heads the Investigations, Compliance & Ethics practice of the Swiss offices. Further, he is a member of the EMEA Steering Committee Compliance & Investigations and co-leads the EMEA Financial Institutions Industry Group. He has been recognized by Legal 500 as a leading individual for compliance, regulatory and investigation matters.
Before joining the Firm, Christoph was global head of Litigation & Investigations and general counsel in Asia for a large Swiss bank. For over 10 years, he has led complex regulatory and criminal investigations as well as high stakes litigation across the US, Europe and Asia, and has advised on transformational regulatory developments and wealth management products and services across Switzerland and Asia. In his roles, Christoph has worked closely with business leaders, government authorities and the media, navigating businesses through regulatory and other challenges. Prior to this, Christoph was a litigator in leading practices in Switzerland and the US. Christoph also teaches post-graduate courses in 'Crisis Management' and 'Risk Governance' at the Europa Institute at the University of Zurich.
Charles Magerman co-chairs the Corporate and Finance Practice Group in Baker McKenzie's Toronto office. He focuses on corporate law as well as M&A and finance transactions. Charles has been recognized as a Thomson Reuters Stand-out Lawyer and as a key lawyer in Legal 500 Canada 2020 for M&A. He has lectured on international business transactions and is an active speaker at numerous conferences on cross-border transactions and on doing business in Canada, including those presented by Canadian federal and Ontario provincial government authorities.
Stephanie is an experienced Transfer Pricing professional and heads Baker McKenzie's Financial Services Transfer Pricing (FSTP) group. Prior to joining the Firm, Stephanie was a Big 4 FSTP partner in the UK and Switzerland and has more than 20 years of experience in TP and related economic and business consulting. She is quoted as a "leading/highly regarded" TP advisor in various expert listings e.g. World Transfer Pricing, she often presents at international conferences and has authored/contributed to several articles in academic and business journals. She holds a Ph.D. in Economics from London Business School.
