Ashurst

Ashurst's comprehensive cross-disciplinary team delivers a robust service to regional and international banks, asset management companies, and market makers, covering a wide spectrum of their regulatory requirements. This includes guidance on licensing, regulatory challenges related to new products, enforcement actions, and internal probes. Capitalising on solid relationships with regulatory bodies including the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) and the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA), Ben Hammond regularly advises clients on day-to-day licensing and compliance efforts, including helping a significant number of Hong Kong's exchange market makers in meeting local regulatory and exchange duties, as well as on larger discrete regulatory change projects. Hammond recently advised HSBC on the provision of its digital assets platform to facilitate the HKSAR government's successful HK$6bn issuance of a multi-currency, digitally native bond. James Comber spearheads the contentious offering in the financial services sector and is a popular choice among banks, asset managers and brokerages in the defence of agency enforcement actions (and follow on litigation) as well as in internal investigations. Cliff Chow primarily handles China-related contentious matters for both regional and international financial services firms, frequently engaging with HKEX investigations involving mainland companies.