Hannah Cassidy
Hannah heads the award-winning Financial Services Regulatory practice in Asia, advising clients on contentious and non-contentious matters.
Hannah helps financial institutions, fintech firms, listed companies and their senior individuals on high stakes cases involving, for example, systems and controls breaches, anti-money laundering failures, product mis-selling and insider dealing. She is praised by clients for her "very level-headed and practical advice".
Hannah has helped clients in connection with multiple cross-border matters covering Hong Kong, Singapore, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Australia, Korea, Japan, the United States, the United Kingdom and Jersey.
She has particular expertise in advising clients on the conduct of high profile board-led, independent investigations, particularly in relation to culture and conduct.
Hannah also regularly advises clients on a broad range of regulatory topics, including senior management accountability, payments, cybersecurity, market abuse, anti-money laundering, fraud and scams, client assets and complex licensing issues.
Hannah's team regularly leads discussions with regulators on behalf of the financial services industry in relation to regulatory reform initiatives. This includes working closely with leading industry bodies, including ASIFMA, AIMA and the Hong Kong Association of Banks.
Hannah is the chair of AIMA's Hong Kong Regulatory Committee, a co-chair of the firm's Global Banks Sector Group, is a member of Women in Finance Asia and regularly speaks on industry panels.
Market Recognition
Band 3 in Financial Services for both Contentious Regulatory and Non-contentious Regulatory - China Chambers Greater China 2025 notes:
"Hannah is incredibly knowledgeable, professional and very hands-on. She is willing to go the extra mile to cater to our needs. We can rely on her for succinct advice."
"Hannah Cassidy is very responsible and responsive. She is experienced at looking at financial services regulations, especially those related to banks. It's a good set of expertise that we can draw on."
Leading Partner in Fintech and Financial Services Regulatory - Hong Kong Legal 500 Asia Pacific 2025
"very skilled at advising on highly technical regulatory advisory work"
Background
Hannah is qualified as a solicitor in Hong Kong and England and Wales. She trained with Herbert Smith Freehills in London and is based in Hong Kong.
Experience & expertise
Selected matters
- a large Korean financial institution in relation to issues arising from an investment into a Hong Kong-managed hedge fund
- a Hong Kong listed company and its subsidiary on an independent investigation into alleged misconduct relating to certain investments
- a European investment bank in relation to an investigation into unauthorised trading
- a Japanese securities firm on its defence in the context of regulatory enforcement proceedings brought by the Hong Kong Securities & Futures Commission (SFC)
- a Hong Kong listed company and its directors in connection with an investigation by the SFC relating to certain post-IPO transactions
- a hedge fund on its defence in the context of SFC regulatory enforcement proceedings relating to alleged systems and controls breaches around short-selling
- a global fintech company in relation to a multi-jurisdictional investigation of corporate governance issues, involving regulatory interactions in Hong Kong, Singapore and other Asia Pacific jurisdictions
- a multinational banking and financial services company in connection with cross-border enquiries by the US, Hong Kong and Australian regulators
- a US investment bank in the context of a SFC investigation into suspicious trading activities at its Hong Kong branch
- multiple international and regional financial institutions on strategic advisory matters, including in relation to complex licensing issues, product offering, culture and conduct, payments, money lending, corporate restructuring and data privacy
- several global investment banks on anti-money laundering and counter-financing terrorism (AML/CFT) compliance
- multiple banks and fintech firms in relation to virtual-asset related activity
