*This Law Society Skillnet discount is applicable to all practicing solicitors working in the private sector. The standard fee for this course is €185. 

Course 2: FinTech and the Law

CPD Hours: 1.5 general (by eLearning)

Aim and objectives
Designed and delivered by expert international financial services (IFS) solicitors and professionals, this seminar recorded as a webinar in February 2024, will benefit personnel across all sectors in the financial services industry who are looking to develop and enhance their knowledge and practical skills in the financial services regulatory legal and FinTech space.

Topics include
● Authorised Push Payment (APP) fraud
● CESOP - Implications for Payments Firms
● IAF/SEAR – A governance and business challenge
● Update on outsourcing and operational resilience

Learning outcomes
At the end of this webinar participants will/will be able to:
● Have a better understanding of how recent regulatory developments impact FinTech firms
● Recognise the applicability of the Central Bank’s recent Individual Accountability Framework (IAF) to your business
● Develop awareness of the challenges presented by recent legislation such as the IAF and SEAR
● Identify steps to be thinking about now to ensure important milestones and increasing regulatory expectations are met with respect to Operational Resilience
● Gain an understanding of the Central Bank’s expectations of FinTech firms in the area of APP Fraud

Chairperson 
Christopher Martin, Financial regulatory and compliance lawyer
Chris Martin is a financial regulatory and compliance lawyer with over a decade’s experience advising both domestic and international regulated and unregulated financial services providers on regulatory and compliance issues. He is the Internal Examiner on the Law Society’s Diploma in Regulation Law and Practice, and was recently ranked Band 3 in Fintech Legal in Ireland by Chambers 2024. He regularly lectures and speaks on legal and regulatory matters, as well as participating in and chairing committees and working groups in various industry bodies, including the Compliance Institute, Irish Funds and Blockchain Ireland.

Speakers
Liz Gallagher, Tax Director, Meta
Liz Gallagher is a seasoned Indirect Tax Executive. Liz is the Indirect Tax Director at Meta where she leads the Company’s EMEA Indirect tax team. Liz is responsible for Indirect tax strategy, Planning, Compliance, Audit, Tax Transformation & Automation, and Litigation for the region. Liz devotes her time supporting the business and product teams to navigate issues relating to business expansion and new product launches, in EMEA such as FB Shops, Metaverse, AR/VR product initiatives, as well as infrastructure expansion for data centers and subsea cable fiber networks.  She collaborates with Meta’s Tax and Regional Policy team to engage with fiscal and tax policy makers and regulators in EMEA to ensure Meta is compliant with new tax regulatory regimes, particularly those targeting the digital industry. As a member of Business at OECD Liz attends OECD Working Party 9 on consumption taxes. 

Prior to joining Meta, Liz worked at PwC Ireland for 15 years. Liz advised on all aspects of VAT, particularly in relation to VAT obligations in the SSC environment, complex property transactions and cross border trading (goods and services). Liz was also a member of the Global PwC Tax Technology team and a lead member of VAT review and Revenue audit defense team and worked on Complex VAT reviews and Audits. 

Liz holds a Business & Law (BBL) degree from University College Dublin. She is a Chartered Tax Advisor. Liz lives in Ireland with her husband, three children, and their beloved English Sheepdog, Simba. 

Ruth McCarty, Head of Compliance and Risk, Fexco Group
Ruth is Head of Compliance and Risk for Fexco Group. She is the former managing director of the Fexco Corporate Payments business and practised as a solicitor specialising in financial regulation.

Ruth is Chair of the Fintech and Payments Association of Ireland. She is also a member of the Industry Advisory Group for the Irish government’s Ireland for Finance strategy for financial services and the EU Commission Payment Services Market Experts Group. Ruth is a chartered director and a regular contributor to publications and events relating to the Irish fintech industry.

Máire Reidy, Senior Regulatory Counsel, Stripe
Máire Reidy is Senior Regulatory Counsel at Stripe, Dublin. Máire has extensive legal and regulatory experience in the area of financial services, having worked in private practice, with the regulator and in-house in financial services firms.

Máire was called to the Bar in 2003 and practiced as a barrister before joining the Central Bank in 2012, where she spent a number of years as a lawyer within the Central Bank's Enforcement Division. Before joining Stripe, Máire worked as regulatory counsel at financial technology firm Fexco and before that as an associate within the Financial Services practice group at Mason Hayes & Curran. Máire has also lectured in law at a number of third level institutions across Ireland.

Niamh Davenport, Head of Financial Crime, Banking and Payments Federation Ireland (BPFI) 
Niamh Davenport is a highly respected expert in the field of financial crime and fraud prevention. With over 18 years of experience in the banking industry, she is currently serving as the Head of Financial Crime at the Banking and Payments Federation Ireland (BPFI), Niamh has been instrumental in developing and implementing effective financial crime prevention strategies for the past 7 years.

Prior to joining BPFI, Niamh served as the Head of the Fraud Prevention Unit with Allied Irish Bank for 7 years as the Head of the Fraud Prevention Unit and across the risk management function where she led the development and implementation of strategies to prevent fraud organisation. 

Niamh holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from UCD, is a Chartered Accountant (CAI), and received a Postgraduate Diploma in Forensic Accounting. 

Hannah Vero, Financial Services Regulatory Associate, Hogan Lovells LLP
Hannah is a financial services regulatory associate in Hogan Lovells LLP. She primarily advises on payment services, crowdfunding, consumer protection, insurance distribution, consumer credit, outsourcing, conduct of business rules, FinTech, crypto and anti-money laundering. Hannah also provides general corporate advices.

Hannah is the co-lead of the Hogan Lovells Fintech Mentor Programme. 

Course 1: Future of Payments – Digital currencies and Cryptoassets
CPD hours: 1.5 general (by eLearning)
Aim and Objectives
This seminar, recorded at the Law Society of Ireland in October 2023, looks at the rapid growth in digital currencies and cryptoassets (such as Bitcoin and Ethereum) which has radically transformed the financial markets over the last few years.  Increasingly lawyers, together with policy makers and industry, are facing the question of how to adapt existing legal and commercial concepts to the digital assets space.

This seminar is a collaboration between the EU & International Affairs Committee and Law Society Professional Training will bring together specialists from the European Commission, industry and private practice to address the question of the future of payments in Europe, including a consideration of the potential for Ireland to position itself as a leader in the European digital currencies and cryptoassets industries.  

Keynote Speaker
Marcel Haag, Director, Horizontal policies (FISMA B) - Directorate-General for Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union, European Commission
Marcel Haag studied law at the universities of Freiburg, Bonn, Strasbourg and at the EUI in Florence and qualified as a judge in Düsseldorf. After a short stint in business, he joined the European Commission and worked in different services within the Commission. Until the summer of 2020, Mr. Haag served as the Director for policy coordination in the Secretariat-General of the Commission. He is currently Director for Horizontal policies at the Directorate-General for Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union (DG FISMA), European Commission.

Panelists
Ruth McCarthy, Chairperson of the FinTech & Payments Association Ireland (FPAI), Member of the ECB’s Market Advisory Group on the Digital Euro, Fexco Group Head of Compliance, Risk & Policy
Ruth McCarthy is active in the Irish fintech industry and through her role as Chair of FPAI supports innovative financial services start-ups. She is a member of the Industry Advisory Group advising the Department of Finance on the ‘Ireland for Finance’ jobs strategy. Ruth is a member of the ECB Market Advisory Group on the digital Euro and a thought leader on digital assets. She is Fexco’s Group Head of Compliance, Risk & Compliance.

Gillian Lynch, Head of Ireland and Europe, Gemini
Gillian Lynch is the head of Ireland and EU at Gemini. Gemini is a cryptocurrency exchange and custodian founded by US entrepreneurs Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss and was the first firm to be registered by the Central Bank of Ireland as a Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP). Gemini has recently announced Dublin as the location for its European headquarters. Gemini launched its platform in Ireland and eleven other European markets in the fourth quarter of 2022.

Stuart Davis, Partner, Latham & Watkins LLP
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 Latham & Watkins' Global Digital Assets & Web3 Practice and is a member of the Emerging Companies Fintech Practice and the Fintech Industry. 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.

Gerry Cross, Director of Financial Regulation.
Gerry Cross was appointed as Director of Financial Regulation - Policy and Risk in May 2015.  He leads the Central Bank’s work on prudential and markets conduct regulatory policy and its supervisory risk framework (PRISM). Gerry is a member of the EBA Board of Supervisors and alternate member of the EIOPA Board of Supervisors. He co-chairs EBA’s Standing Committee on Regulation and Policy. Gerry has had an extensive career in the area of financial services regulation. Before joining the Central Bank he worked at the European Commission, the UK Financial Services Authority, Fortis Group, the Institute of International Finance, and the Association for Financial Markets in Europe.

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• This course is available from date of registration to 31 December 2024. You should download any course materials you require before this date as you cannot access the course after 31 December 2024.
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