Wednesday 26 September 2018
6:00pm – 7:30pm

Fintech trends in Japan and the UK

Drinks reception: 7:30pm – 8:00pm

13/14 Cornwall Terrace, Outer Circle (entrance facing Regent's Park), London NW1 4QP

Organised by the Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation and the British Japanese Law Association

Fully booked

The financial industry is facing a rapid change as new disruptive technologies emerge for the benefit of consumers. In this seminar, Naoki Kanehisa talked about the development of payment related services, open banking and cryptocurrency legislation in Japan. His talk was followed by Jonathan Emmanuel and Gavin Punia who discussed the recent developments in the UK fintech sector, with a particular focus on: Payment Services Directive 2, the UK open banking initiative and the use of blockchain.

This seminar has been arranged in cooperation with the British Japanese Law Association.

About the contributors

Naoki Kanehisa

Naoki Kanehisa is a Japanese qualified attorney and a partner in the leading Tokyo law firm Atsumi & Sakai. He heads the firm’s London office, which was established in January 2015 to provide advice on Japanese law to clients in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and the US east coast. His primary practice areas include banking & capital markets, fintech, regulation of financial institutions, funds and M&A. Naoki is also a member of firm’s Innovation Practice Group; members of the group support the FinTech Association of Japan as its secretariat and are legal advisors to the Japan Blockchain Association. Naoki has been working on Fintech-related matters for both UK and Japanese companies, including financial institutions and start-ups. He holds a law degree from Tokyo University, a J.D. from Keio University and an LL.M. from Columbia University. Naoki is a member of the British Japanese Law Association.

Gavin Punia

Gavin Punia is a senior associate in Bird & Bird’s Banking & Finance group, based in London. He specialises in UK and EU financial services regulation. Gavin has a wide range of experience across retail and wholesale financial services regulation, in particular advising firms on payment services and electronic money issues, including banks, merchant acquirers, card scheme operators and e-commerce platforms. His practice also includes assisting firms in non-sector specific regimes such as anti-money laundering, bribery and corruption and market abuse having advised a number of banks, lenders, investment firms, and insurers in these areas. Gavin has written a number of articles on payment services, which have been published in “Practical Law Company”, “E-Finance & Payments Law & Policy” and “Payments & Fintech Lawyer”.

Jonny Emmanuel

Jonny Emmanuel is a partner in the Commercial Group of the law firm Bird & Bird, based in London. He advises on a variety of technology and commercial projects, often assisting clients with disruptive digital technology adoption, such as cloud computing, blockchain, Agile software development and open source licensing. Jonny specialises in FinTech issues, working with technology clients providing services to the financial services companies and financial services clients acquiring the technology and technology-driven services core to their businesses. He has a particular interest in technology applied to the automotive sector, especially the legal issues surrounding the adoption of driverless cars, and has advised clients and written and talked extensively on the subject.