Stuart Davis counsels clients on the domestic and cross-border regulatory aspects of cutting-edge fintech initiatives, including technology innovations in legislation, market infrastructure, tokenization, trading, clearing and settlement, lending (including crowdfunding), payments, and regulatory surveillance.

Stuart is Co-Chair of the Fintech Industry Group and Co-Chair of the Global Digital Assets & Web3 Practice. He advises financial institutions on the impact of regulatory change on their businesses, including MiCA, MAR and MiFID II, CASS, CSDR, PSD2/3, AIFMD, and regulatory divergence, as well as strategically advising on their FX remediation projects, market conduct issues, best execution compliance, systems and controls, and governance.

Stuart has a wide range of experience advising broker-dealers; investment, retail, and private banks; technology companies; market infrastructure providers; investment managers; hedge funds; and private equity funds on complex regulatory challenges.

Stuart’s experience includes advising:

  • Sixth Street Growth on its investment in a €285 million funding round for SumUp, a leading global financial services company
  • Abu Dhabi Global Markets (ADGM), an Abu Dhabi-based regulator, on a new Foundations Regulatory Regime to facilitate the issuance of blockchain tokens
  • FIS and Worldpay on the regulatory aspects of GTCR’s acquisition of a majority stake in Worldpay, a leading global provider of payment processing solutions, from FIS
  • Coinbase on its acquisition of One River Digital, a digital asset manager
  • Shift4 Payments on its acquisition of Online Payments Group (dba SecurionPay), a Switzerland-based online payments service provider
  • Madison Dearborn Partners on its US$1.8 billion acquisition of MoneyGram, a provider of money transfer services
  • The Rise Fund, an investing platform of TPG, on its US$200 million investment in Airtel Mobile Commerce, a Netherlands-based mobile money business and wholly owned subsidiary of Airtel Africa
  • Paysafe, a London-based payments platform, on its US$9 billion business combination with Foley Trasimene Acquisition Corp. II, a special purpose acquisition company
  • TA Associates on its £1.78 billion investment in Söderberg & Partners, a Sweden-based provider of wealth management and corporate pension and insurance services
  • Shift4 Payments on its US$575 million acquisition of Credorax (dba Finaro), an Israel-based software financial technology company
  • Permira Growth Opportunities in its participation in the GoCardless US$312 million Series G
  • The investors on FreeTrade’s US$50 million Series B financing
  • The underwriters on Argo Blockchain’s US$128 million Initial Public Offering on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and Nasdaq
  • Citi on its US$20.5 million sale of Proxymity, a London-based provider of end-to-end digital investor communications platform services, to a consortium of investors
  • Elwood Technologies on its £70 million Series A+ financing led by Dawn Capital and Goldman Sachs
  • Digital Moneybox on its US$40 million Series D financing
  • Advised Euler XYZ on its US32 million Token Investment Round
  • The financial advisers in Wise’s £8 billion Direct Listing on the London Stock Exchange
  • Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital consortium on its £4.25 billion acquisition of Chelsea Football Club
  • Shift4 Payments on its US$396.75 million IPO on NYSE
  • Morgan Stanley and J.P. Morgan as underwriters on the €946 million Initial Public Offering of Adyen on the Euronext Amsterdam
  • Cipher Mining Technologies, a Bitcoin mining operation created by Bitfury, on its US$2 billion business combination with Good Works Acquisition Corp., a special purpose acquisition company
  • Airbnb in connection to its initial public offering
  • Goldman Sachs on the build of its first UK Retail Investment Platform – Marcus Invest
  • Silver Lake Partners on an equity investment in Klarna, a Sweden-based provider of payments and shopping service
  • Square in the acquisition of Verse, a Spanish P2P payments app that allows customers to send and receive payments from friends and family instantly, safely, and free of charge
  • The Central Bank of Egypt on the formulation of a new banking law / regulatory regime
  • A number of central banks and governments on drafting substantial financial services, market infrastructure, payments, and fintech legislation
  • A broad range of global investment banks, market infrastructure providers, and technology companies on structuring innovative and efficient technology platforms and/or products, including through the use of blockchain technology, covering areas such as clearing and settlement, netting, and the tokenisation and digitisation of products
  • A national payment system operator on its establishment of a new retail payment system
  • A number of global technology, payments, and media companies on regulatory implications of launching stablecoins
  • eToro on the structuring and launch of eToro Digital Assets, an innovative platform for the tokenisation of assets
  • Nivaura on structuring its regulated custody and issuance platform for the tokenisation of equity, a deal which was highly commended by the FT Innovative Lawyers Awards
  • The World Economic Forum on its blockchain initiatives as part of its Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution

Bar Qualification

  • England and Wales (Solicitor)

Education

  • MA (Hons), University of Cambridge, 2011
  • BA (Hons) Law, University of Cambridge, 2007
February 12, 2024 Recognition

Fintech Group of the Year: Latham & Watkins

Latham & Watkins LLP made waves in the fintech world last year by successfully defending venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz in a case of first impression involving so-called scam tokens as well as through its representation of Binance's CEO in ongoing enforcement actions.

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December 2, 2022 Recognition

Latham Earns Top Fintech Rankings Globally

Chambers and The Legal 500 recognize Latham’s deep global fintech capabilities and track record of landmark mandates; firm earns Band 1 ranking in Chambers’ inaugural US Crypto-Asset Disputes category.