Azad Ali

In the banking sector, Mr. Ali advises on all aspects of bank capital and prudential matters, bank resolution (BRRD, Banking Act) and structural reform and reorganizations (ring-fencing, subsidiarisation), governance, remuneration, systems and controls, and various conduct of business issues.

In relation to financial markets, Mr. Ali advises both sell-side and buy-side institutions on derivatives and securities financing regulation including EMIR, MiFID II, Benchmarks Regulation/IBOR reform and market abuse. His capital markets experience covers regulatory capital issuances, securitisation and structured finance as well as debt and equity issuances generally.

Mr. Ali also has extensive experience acting for exchange and clearing groups and other market infrastructure providers in relation to M&A activity as well as advisory work across all aspects of their businesses.

Mr. Ali’s experience in the fintech area extends to blockchain/DLT applications, cryptoassets and exchanges, payment services/e-money, peer-to-peer lending, and other artificial intelligence and machine learning businesses.

He has written extensively on bank regulatory and other matters and is frequently quoted in journals on this area as well as on bank structural reform, resolution and central clearing, among many other financial regulatory areas. In recognition of his work in financial services, he has been named a Rising Star in IFLR1000 EMEA.

Mr. Ali’s experience includes advising:

• the underwriters of regulatory capital issuances of various banks, including HSBC and RBS;
• Piraeus Bank on its €4.9 billion recapitalization following the 2015 Greek bailout, including an equity capital raise, state aid and a liability management exercise;
• Eurobank on its €2 billion recapitalization following the 2015 Greek bailout;
• various institutions on issues relating to MREL;
• Abu Dhabi Global Market on the establishment of a financial services centre and the drafting of a full suite of financial regulatory legislation and rulebooks (including bank prudential standards);
• subordinated bondholders on the recapitalization of The Co-operative Bank including a liability management exercise and bail-in of bondholders in connection with the bank’s £1.5 billion recapitalization plan;
• a consortium of subordinated bondholders on the Bank of Portugal’s resolution of Banco Espirito Santo (BES) in August 2014; and
• various U.S. and other banking groups, broker-dealer and other financial institutions on regulatory change implementation and compliance.