Barnabas Reynolds
Barnabas Reynolds is a partner in global law firm A&O Shearman and one of the world's leading financial institution practitioners. He is a particularly known for his thinking on how law and regulation can be navigated to optimise commercial activities. He provides pathfinding, strategic advice to financial services firms on the most efficient course through the thicket of law and regulation, domestic and cross-border, in order to enhance productivity; the use of legal reasoning to achieve legal and regulatory certainty; and how to engage effectively with regulators and government officials. Adopting a practical and innovative approach, he assists firms in planning for and managing emerging risks from legal and regulatory change. He advises C-suites and Boards on business issues through a legal and regulatory lens. He has helped numerous well-known clients with business transformation. He also advises governments and regulators.
Barney specialises in banking, investment banking, derivatives, fund management, financial markets and financial infrastructure, payments, fintech, crypto and digital assets, insurance and reinsurance law and regulation, and enforcement actions, AML and sanctions. He has particular expertise in U.K. and EU regulation, but also advises on navigating legal and regulatory systems worldwide. He conceived and led the drafting for the regime in Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM), and is also familiar with that of the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC).
Barney advised the U.K. government and numerous businesses in the context of the legal and other implications of leaving the EU, and how to navigate them. He is interviewed and published widely, regularly writing articles in national newspapers. He speaks at conferences on global developments and participates in fora of regulators with new ideas for the application and adjustment of regulation. He is frequently called to give evidence before Parliamentary Committees.