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, 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'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 and AIMA.
Hannah also regularly advises clients on regulatory developments, including in relation to culture and conduct, senior management accountability, virtual assets and operational resilience.
Hannah is 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
Chambers Asia Pacific 2022 notes:
A client highlights her "impressive regulatory experience in the financial services sector in Asia and deep knowledge of the regulatory challenges facing the alternative investment management sector," adding: "Her relationships with and knowledge of the key regulators is invaluable."
A second client remarks: "She has fantastic communication and client management skills and is able to connect with clients at a commercial and strategic level to understand what their issues are and manage that discussion proactively."
Hannah is ranked Band 4 in the Chambers Asia Pacific 2022 Contentious Regulatory and Non-contentious Regulatory categories (International Firms: China). Hannah is also ranked as a "Leading Individual" in the Legal 500 Asia Pacific Regulatory category.
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 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
- several global investment banks on anti-money laundering and counter-financing terrorism (AML/CFT) compliance
- the board of a Hong Kong listed company on an independent investigation into alleged misconduct by former senior management
- a large Chinese financial institution on an investigation by the SFC into its role as an IPO sponsor
- 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
- a global private bank on an investigation in relation to issues arising from 1MDB
- a Korean corporation on the setup of cryptocurrency exchanges globally
- multiple international and regional financial institutions on strategic advisory matters
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