Gabriella Savastano
Head of Financial Services Regulation – UAE, Dubai
“I have in-depth experience advising global and domestic banks, brokerage firms, fintech companies and financial market infrastructures in all matters of financial regulation. I focus on delivering advice that is clear and robust, allowing clients to navigate complex regulations with ease.”
Overview
Professional experience
Education and qualifications
Overview
Gabriella has more than a decade of experience advising international and domestic clients on the full spectrum of UAE financial regulations, including licensing, conduct of business, regulatory compliance, anti-money laundering and other regulatory matters.
Prior to joining Linklaters, she spent eight years working as senior legal counsel at a leading international investment bank where she was responsible for regulatory reform projects, including Brexit and MIFID II. Her also worked at a hedge fund and worked across derivatives products. Gabriella’s strong in-house experience uniquely places her to assist clients on regulatory reform projects as she has a deep understanding on the issues many clients face internally.
Gabriellas clients include leading global financial institutions as well as players in the fintech ecosystem, such as crow-funding platforms, payment service providers and virtual asset service providers.
She is also recognised by Chambers & Partners for her work in the UAE FinTech space.
Work highlights
Among the many matters Gabriella has worked on, she has:
- Brookfield Asset Management on its £2.2bn recommended cash offer for Network International Holdings Plc, a leading provider of digital payment solutions in the Middle East and Africa. Gabriella advised on the regulatory considerations of this transaction.
- an international CFD provider on obtaining a retail endorsement from the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) and updating all of their DFSA policies and terms and conditions to ensure regulatory compliance. *
- an international payment service provider on their UAE Central Bank licence application and ensuring regulatory compliance ahead of submission.
- a large international bank on updating their template documentation to ensure compliance with regulatory reforms.
- multiple asset management firms on regulatory compliance with the SCA fund regime.
- the largest real estate developer in the UAE on accepting cryptocurrency as a form of payment through on-off ramp transactions.*
- multiple international investment banks on cross-border offerings into the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM), Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) and the UAE in relation to lending, deposit- taking, structured products, custodial services and brokerage services.
- a large UAE energy company on putting in place investment management agreements with UAE banks.
*Denotes experience from previous firm
Professional experience
Gabriella is a member of the DIFC Diversity and Inclusion Working Group which provides workshops and other training to professional organisations within the DIFC. Gabriella also acts as a mentor to a number of junior lawyers.