Gabriella Savastano

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

Gabriella was Head of Financial Regulation – Middle East at CMS in their Dubai office.  Prior to relocating to the Middle East, Gabriella was senior legal counsel at Macquarie Bank in London for over eight years.  Prior to her time at Macquarie, Gabriella worked at a large British hedge fund.  

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.

Gabriella holds a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Leeds.