About
Omar Salem is a financial services regulatory partner with deep expertise advising banks, FinTech firms, trading platforms, payments firms, payment services providers, digital asset firms, insurance and InsurTech providers, asset managers, and regulated lenders on their most significant strategic and regulatory challenges.
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Omar brings a practical, client-focused approach, developed over a decade in private practice, complemented by hands-on experience as Head of Legal and then General Counsel at an FCA-authorised FinTech. That in-house background gives him distinctive insight into the full range of issues growing businesses face.
Omar has extensive experience advising on regulatory due diligence and change of control processes in M&A transactions for leading private equity firms, as well as regulatory enforcement and investigations spanning PPI, mortgage prisoners, conflicts of interest, and FX trading.
Omar is a member of the City of London Law Society Regulatory Law Committee and has written on legal issues for CityAM, iNews, the Oxford Business Law Blog, and the Journal of International Banking Law & Regulation.
Practices
Banking and Financial Services
Broker-Dealer Regulation
Capital Markets
Commodities, Futures & Derivatives
Environmental, Social & Governance (ESG)
FinTech and Blockchain
Government Affairs
Insurance
International Insurance Regulatory and Transactional
Private Equity
Regulatory Law & Government Contracts
Admissions
England and Wales
Education
London School of Economics, Executive LLM in Financial Law & Regulation
University of Law, GDL, LPC, and LLB
St. Hugh’s College, University of Oxford, BA (Hons) in Philosophy, Politics and Economics
Memberships
Royal Society of Arts
Experience
Fox Williams LLP
Linklaters LLP
Representative Experience
Advised clients on regulatory aspects of transactions with a value of over £23 billion, including purchase of major mortgage and consumer credit books
Advised major trade association on CCA 1974 compliant template agreements
Conducted cross-jurisdictional survey to advise a leading cryptocurrency platform on licensing requirements
Advised top-tier investment bank on SMCR related governance requirements
Advised major retail bank, exchange and asset manager on Brexit licensing
Advised administrators on application of the CASS rules to a major insolvency
Advised major credit rating agency on design of its senior management framework and matrix reporting
Advised on compliance with MiFID II across a wide range of requirements, including transaction reporting, best execution, recording keep and costs and charges
Advising on the safeguarding requirements applicable to electronic money institutions, including in relation to communicating with customers about these
Advising on the PSR’s requirements for APP fraud reimbursement
Leading and implementing project for compliance with the consumer duty
Advising on the FCA’s requirements for risk management by electronic money institutions, including the EBA operational and security risk requirements
Head of Legal and then General Counsel at leading fintech FCA authorised electronic money institution