Michael works in the financial services regulation team and commercial litigation team.
Michael advises financial and corporate institutions on a range of legal and regulatory issues. This includes banking and financial services as well as corporate liability and obligations.
He advises clients on civil, criminal and regulatory disputes. He has experience working on regulatory and internal investigations, including in relation to sponsor obligations, mis-selling, AML/CTF, bribery, corruption and fraud. He also provides regulatory advice on issues such as licensing and regulatory developments.
He uses a client-focused, risk-based approach which is aimed at generating advice that is easy to digest and useful for his clients. His focus is to steer clients towards an optimal resolution and to provide practical and commercial advice that is tailored to his clients' needs.
He has previously been on secondment with the UBS Litigation & Investigations team in EMEA, London and APAC, Singapore. He has also been on secondment with Man Group, Hong Kong, and the Bank of New York Mellon acting as the APAC Head of Litigation, Enforcement, and Investigations. His experience spans across the UK, Singapore and Hong Kong.
Background
Michael holds an LLB from Durham University where he graduated with first class honours at the top of the law school. He is admitted to practise in England and Wales with higher rights of audience and in Hong Kong.
Experience & expertise
Selected matters
- a global bank in relation to an internal investigation into a whistleblowing complaint, reporting to the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, and advising on parallel investigations by the Securities and Futures Commission and the Independent Commission Against Corruption
- a global bank in relation to a section 59(2) Banking Ordinance review initiated by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority into AML and CTF compliance
- a global bank to defend against regulatory disciplinary proceedings relating to sponsor work brought by the Securities and Futures Commission and to defend against subsequent litigation proceedings brought by liquidators of the listing applicant
- a global bank in relation to an internal investigation into potential claims by the Malaysian Government arising from its client relationship with a 1MDB subsidiary
- a global bank in relation to a criminal investigation by the Independent Commission Against Corruption into alleged bribery and corruption by former employees in Hong Kong
- a retail bank in respect of a criminal investigation by the Thames Valley police into alleged fraud by former employees
- a retail bank in respect of a portfolio of cases involving allegations relating to the mis-selling of interest rate derivative products and interaction with a parallel s.166 FSMA review initiated by the UK's Financial Conduct Authority
- a number of trust and company service providers in relation to criminal investigations for unlicensed activity by the Hong Kong Companies Registry
- an oil and gas company in relation to an internal investigation in Thailand following a cyber-hack and pursing recovery and tracing efforts in the Hong Kong courts
- a number of fund managers in relation to securities licensing issues, regulatory change implementation, and preparing for regulatory inspections
Sectors
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