CMS

CMS provides ‘commercial technical advice’ to its client base of wholesale and retail banks, general and life insurers and reinsurers, investment managers, platforms and exchanges, payment service providers and consumer finance. Ash Saluja leads the team and is noted for his expertise in banking and investment business regulation, while ’excellent’ Angela Greenough handles matters concerning regulated financial services outsourcing. Sam Robinson stands out for his experience in the fintech arena and Pippa Tasker advises on a range of UK and EU regulatory and commercial issues affecting financial services providers. The ‘brilliant’ Joy Davey joined the team from Macfarlanes LLP in June 2023 and Tom Callaby counts US and European investment banks and technology and market data providers among his key roster of clients. Paul Edmondson remains a key contact in the group.

Legal 500 Editorial commentary

Testimonials

Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.

‘The team is knowledgeable in the investment sector and we can rely on CMS to provide commercial technical advice.’
‘Joy Davey is a strategic thinker and was brilliant when facing the other side of the deal on our behalf.’
‘They have industry leading expertise in retail investment platforms and financial technology/infrastructure and migrations between these providers.’
‘Investing time to build an understanding of our business means that we can quickly jump to questions and solutions without spending time explaining how things work, and this enables speed in decision making, along with efficient advice which really cuts through the complexity of a problem.’
‘Pippa Tasker really understands our business, how we work, what we need and provides solutions to the problems we identify. This enables us to move in the right direction and with pace give how responsive she is on these topics.’
‘The team is very diverse and can look at any financial product regulatory issue, from consumer credit and funds to pension and insurance. They are also able to cover cross-border regulatory work, emerging regulatory advice such as crypto-assets, and wider prudential or systems and controls type advice.’
‘Ash Saluja can immediately spot what a client needs in terms of technical input and can put teams of specialist partners and associates together to cover both smaller and larger scale matters.'
'Angela Greenough is excellent in untangling difficult operational set ups and analysing any regulatory or contractual issues. She is very solutions focused and will translate any legal advice into very easily digestible diagrams.’

Key clients

Visa
Morgan Stanley
MetLife
Aegon Asset Management
Quilter
Columbia Threadneedle
Willis Towers Watson
Phoenix Group
Aviva Investors
American Express
Binance
Fidelity
Lumin Wealth
Moneygram
Copper
Modulr
Chip Financial

Work highlights

Advised Phoenix on its outsourcing projects with TCS Diligenta, a leading provider of policy administration services in the UK and Europe.
Advised MetLife to restructure its UK business after Brexit, obtaining PRA authorisations, transferring insurance business and outsourced services.
Advised NatWest Group, the UK based banking group engaged in retail banking, commercial and private banking, debt financing solutions and transaction management, on its acquisition of a majority shareholding in Cushon, a workplace savings and pensions fintech.

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