Norton Rose Fulbright named Legal 500 specialist law firm of the year for FinTech

Global law firm Norton Rose Fulbright was awarded “Firm (Specialism) of the Year” at the 2019 UK Legal 500 awards in recognition of its outstanding FinTech practice.

The firm also secured a tier 1 ranking for FinTech in China in the 2019 Asia Pacific Legal 500 guide, as well as a Tier 1 Legal 500 ranking in the 2019 UK Legal 500 guide.

These accolades reflect the firm’s reputation for advising some of the world’s leading financial institutions and corporations as well as start-ups, crypto-exchanges and governments on complex and novel legal and regulatory issues and projects relating to FinTech. The multidisciplinary FinTech team brings together over 200 lawyers from across the firm’s practice areas worldwide, combining deep global tech experience with financial services and regulatory knowledge.

Recent experience includes advising

• HSBC, ANZ, Deutsche Bank, Citibank, BNP Paribas and Standard Chartered on the establishment of a consortium to build and develop a global trade finance platform.
• The VAKT consortium comprising ABN Amro, BP, Gunvor, ING, Koch Supply & Trading, Mercuria, Shell, Société Générale, Statoil, Chevron, Total and Reliance which developed a first-of-its-kind energy trading platform using distributed ledger technology.
• The participants in one of the highest profile blockchain platforms in the marine insurance sector - the Insurwave marine blockchain platform, involving Maersk, EY, Willis Towers Watson, XL Catlin, MS Amlin and Microsoft.
• The ASEAN Financial Innovation Network, formed by the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation, the Monetary Authority of Singapore and the ASEAN Bankers Association, on the establishment of a global FinTech marketplace and sandbox platform, called API Exchange, hosted in Singapore.
• A consortium of banks comprising UBS, Erste Group, Commerzbank, Bank of Montreal, Caixabank on the development of a global trade finance platform - ‘Batavia’ - powered by blockchain technology.
• Lendingblock on the launch of its pioneering cryptoassets lending platform.
• Two foreign Governments on the development of their legal and regulatory frameworks for blockchain and other technologies.

Norton Rose Fulbright global head of FinTech Sean Murphy commented: “Technology is transforming the financial institutions sector and the development and deployment of blockchain, DLT, AI and data analytics by financial services will only increase in scope. Our Legal 500 FinTech rankings and this award reflect the achievements of our entire global team.”

Imogen Garner, the co-head of the firm’s FinTech regulatory practice in London, commented: “As the FinTech sector continues to expand, complex risks will arise, requiring robust and comprehensive legal and regulatory analysis. We anticipate, for example, that further collaboration between industry incumbents and new entrants will present novel opportunities and challenges.”

Find out more about the Norton Rose Fulbright global FinTech team and its market insights.

For further information please contact:

Louise Nelson, Senior PR Manager
Tel: +44 20 7444 5086; Mob: +44 7909 684 893
louise.nelson@nortonrosefulbright.com

Notes for editors:

Norton Rose Fulbright

Norton Rose Fulbright is a global law firm providing the world’s preeminent corporations and financial institutions with a full business law service. The firm has more than 4,000 lawyers and other legal staff based in Europe, the United States, Canada, Latin America, Asia, Australia, Africa and the Middle East.

Recognized for its industry focus, Norton Rose Fulbright is strong across all the key industry sectors: financial institutions; energy; infrastructure, mining and commodities; transport; technology and innovation; and life sciences and healthcare. Through its global risk advisory group, the firm leverages its industry experience with its knowledge of legal, regulatory, compliance and governance issues to provide clients with practical solutions to the legal and regulatory risks facing their businesses.

Norton Rose Fulbright operates in accordance with its global business principles of quality, unity and integrity, aiming to provide the highest possible standard of legal service in each of its offices and to maintain that level of quality at every point of contact.

Norton Rose Fulbright Verein, a Swiss verein, helps coordinate the activities of Norton Rose Fulbright members but does not itself provide legal services to clients. Norton Rose Fulbright has offices in more than 50 cities worldwide, including London, Houston, New York, Toronto, Mexico City, Hong Kong, Sydney and Johannesburg. For more information, see nortonrosefulbright.com/legal-notices.