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, 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.