This global group advises on all aspects of regulatory and risk management, enforcement and compliance work across multiple jurisdictions.
The Linklaters’ global Financial Regulation Group (FRG) is a core team of specialists and associates whose practice focuses on advising government bodies, investment banks, securities houses, exchanges, trading and settlements systems and other players in the financial services industry.
Linklaters has extensive experience in providing regulatory advice, establishing new market participants, obtaining FSA authorisations and advising on all necessary legal and compliance steps. Clients rely on the group’s unrivalled knowledge in complex cross-border regulatory investigations and enforcement cases. FRG lawyers also advise on the management of conflicts of interest, global marketing and selling restrictions and drafting and negotiating distribution agreements.
Linklaters has particular expertise on all areas of regulatory governance and systems and controls requirements. The group assists clients to install and document appropriate reporting structures and decision-making processes and advises on necessary board and committee regulation. FRG lawyers also advise on form and content requirements for transaction and other regulatory reporting.
The team includes lawyers who have worked for and with regulators, including the FSA and the SFO.
Linklaters was responsible for the development of online legal services to provide updated information and advice through the Blue Flag® range of products. These products include Regulatory, Funds and Shareholding Disclosure, covering 39 jurisdictions. They enable legal and compliance professionals to manage cross-border transactions in a more timely and cost-effective manner.
Linklaters is renowned for its monthly client “Breakfast Briefings” , a discussion forum uniting legal and compliance professionals from major financial institutions. as well as hosting regular client seminars on topical issues.
Recent financial markets transactions include advising
- PwC as administrators of Lehman Brothers International (Europe) - the largest corporate insolvency in history
- on a significant multi-jurisdictional trading investigation into the euro-sovereign debt market - Linklaters continues to play a key advisory role
- a consortium of leading investment banks on the creation of a pan-European equities trading platform
- two leading clearing banks on their responses to an OFT investigation
- RBS on its successful bid for ABN AMRO - transactional regulatory support
