Blair Keefe > Torys > Toronto, Canada > Lawyer Profile
Torys Offices
79 WELLINGTON STREET WEST, SUITE 3000
BOX 270, TD CENTRE
TORONTO, ONTARIO
Canada
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Blair Keefe
Work Department
Banking & Finance, Insurance
Position
A preeminent figure in the financial services industry, Blair has decades of experience advising Canada’s leading financial institutions on regulatory matters and industry best practices, and has acted as counsel on some of the country’s most complex and novel issues in his field.
Blair is co-head of the firm’s Financial Services, Bank Regulatory and Insurance Regulatory practices, and is co-head of the Payments and Cards Practice. He advises on corporate and regulatory issues relating to financial institutions, as well as on mergers and acquisitions and corporate finance in the financial services industry.
Blair is known for his in-depth understanding of all matters relating to the Bank Act. In addition, he has extensive experience in insurance and bank regulatory matters, banking and debt finance as well as payments and cards.
Career
Ontario Bar, 1989
Memberships
Blair was a member of the Regulatory Advisory Group to the Task Force for the Payments System Review in 2011, providing advice on regulatory and legal issues related to the payments industry in Canada.
Blair also recently provided advice to the Canadian life insurance industry on the insurance holding company capital regime, and, over the last several years, has provided advice to the Canadian life insurance industry on various government bills, which contained amendments to the financial institutions statutes.
In his capacity as Co-Chair of the Financial Services Legislative Reform Committee of the Canadian Bar Association, Blair appeared as a witness before the House of Commons Finance Committee on Bill C-67 (which implemented branch banking in Canada for foreign banks in 1999).
While on secondment to the Canadian Bankers’ Association, he testified before parliamentary committees, drafted amendments to the legislation and advised the Canadian Bankers’ Association on revisions to the legislation affecting federal financial institutions.
Lawyer Rankings
Canada > Insurance
(Leading individuals)‘A key firm for expert insurance counsel’, Torys is primarily recognized for its dominant position in transactional and regulatory insurance. That being said, the team also benefits from its ability to draw on the wider firm’s deep bench of dispute resolution specialists to resource complex contentious cases. Blair Keefe is widely considered as a leader in financial services regulation, including insurance; he acted as insurance regulatory counsel to Intact Financial on its £7.2bn acquisition, together with Tryg, of RSA Insurance Group. Other key regulatory and transactional names include Jill McCutcheon; senior counsel Kelly Morris; and talented counsel Melissa Prado. On the litigation side, Linda Plumpton is representing Manulife in an application discussing the proper interpretation of the ‘tax-exempt’ status of a subset of its universal life insurance contracts.
Canada > Banking and finance
(Hall of Fame)Widely admired for its formidable regulatory offering, Torys stands out for its record in complex banking M&A as well as day-to-day compliance matters. It additionally handles lending work, where it primarily advises borrowers on corporate financings; less frequently, the group also represents financial services clients on lending transactions. Adam Delean co-leads the banking and debt finance practice and advised Ontario Power Generation on a financing with with Canada Infrastructure Bank to support early works expenditures. Other transactional contacts include banking and debt finance co-head Amanda Balasubramanian; Calgary-based Kevin Fougere, who is highly regarded for energy-related issues; and Tom Zverina. Go-to financial institutions expert Blair Keefe jointly leads the regulatory department alongside Jill McCutcheon. Recently promoted regulatory partner Eli Monas and Calgary-based associate Tyrel Henderson are also recommended. Named lawyers are based in Toronto unless otherwise stated.
Lawyer Rankings
- Hall of Fame Canada > Banking and finance
- Insurance Canada
- Leading individuals Canada > Insurance
- Banking and finance Canada
Top Tier Firm Rankings
- Corporate and M&A
- Infrastructure projects
- Insurance
- Energy and natural resources > Oil and gas
- Energy and natural resources > Power
Firm Rankings
- Banking and finance
- Cannabis
- Capital markets
- Competition and antitrust
- Dispute resolution: Ontario
- Environment
- Intellectual property
- International expertise
- Energy and natural resources > Mining
- Pensions
- Real estate
- Restructuring and insolvency
- Tax
- Technology
- Dispute resolution: Quebec
- Indigenous law
- Public procurement
- International trade
- Labour and employment