Sumit is a Partner in our Hong Kong Financial Regulation Group. He advises on all aspects of Hong Kong SAR financial services legislation and regulation. He advises on the full range of regulatory issues including licensing, ongoing conduct of business issues, regulatory change implementation, product categorisation, governance within financial institutions, market misconduct and AML. Sumit covers all sectors of the Hong Kong financial market (including under the Securities and Futures Ordinance, the Banking Ordinance, the Insurance Ordinance and the Money Lenders Ordinance). Sumit’s client base includes global and regional investment banks, asset managers, market makers, insurers, private equity houses and FinTech companies.

Sumit also provides support to the firm’s transactional teams on the regulatory aspects of M&A, corporate finance and banking transactions, including margin loans.

Sumit is heavily involved with industry bodies in the region. Through Linklaters’ membership of the Hong Kong Private Wealth Management Association (PWMA) and the Asian Securities Industry & Financial Markets Association (ASIFMA), he regularly helps the industry prepare responses to regulatory consultations and assists with lobbying on issues of industry concern.

Sumit has been heavily engaged in the FinTech area, having advised a number of clients on innovative financial service offerings including robo-advice, crypto-related structures and initial coin offerings. He acted for two applicants under the Hong Kong Monetary Authority’s virtual bank initiative. He is a regular speaker at FinTech-related events and sits on ASIFMA’s FinTech working group.

Prior to joining the Hong Kong team, Sumit was based in the firm’s London office where he regularly advised financial institutions on wide-ranging UK and EU regulatory change projects, including on the implementation of the second Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID II), the European Market Abuse Regulation (MAR), the UK Senior Managers and Certification Regime, the UK ring-fencing regime (on which he was seconded to a major retail bank for six months) and the second European Payments Services Directive. This experience allows him to advise Asian-based clients on the extraterritorial effects of UK and European regulation.

Sumit is a qualified solicitor in both Hong Kong and England and Wales.