The former NRF partner will be working across Australia, Asia, the UK and Europe
Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) has boosted its global financial services regulatory team with the addition of new partner Charlotte Henry.
Henry is a specialist in the financial services field and has both local and international experience. She has advised companies on matters involving market entrance, development of new products and services and cross-border sales, strategic direction, good governance, risk management, regulatory change implementation, regulator relationships and remediation programmes.
She also advises investors by project managing due diligence, conducting regulatory reviews, and obtaining regulator consents.
Before joining HSF, Henry was a financial services regulatory partner at Norton Rose Fulbright’s London office. Earlier in her career, she was seconded in-house at a UK retail bank. She also served as a regulator at the Financial Conduct Authority of the UK, with a focus on retail bank conduct.
Recently, she assisted clients on the impact of Brexit, specifically in the area of corporate governance matters. She also handled cases associated with accountability regimes such as Hong Kong’s manager-in-charge regime, Singapore’s senior manager liability and Australia’s BEAR regime.
Henry is a champion of fintech and regtech development, and advocates exploring the use of blockchain in retail banking distribution channels.
She began working from HSF’s Sydney office on 18 May, advising on Australian banking regulatory matters alongside partners Michael Vrisakis and Fiona Smedley, as well as consultant Tony Coburn. She will also collaborate with partners across the firm’s global offices to tackle matters in Asia, the UK and Europe.
“Charlotte not only brings a deep understanding of the regulatory issues and trends facing banks and other financial institutions, but has an excellent track record of leading cross-disciplinary and multi-jurisdictional teams,” said Carolyn Pugsley, HSF’s managing partner for corporate and the regional head of practice for corporate in Australia. “Her wealth of experience from across multiple jurisdictions in Asia Pacific, the UK and Europe adds a new perspective to our expert global team, which will be invaluable for our clients both here in Australia and across our global network.”
“Financial sector firms are facing significant regulatory change, more aggressive regulators using more dynamic supervision, consolidation, competition from technology firms entering the financial sector and with the opening up of the banking sector and an increased focus on putting customers at the heart of the business—all set within a challenging market environment,” Henry said. “I am looking forward to assisting firms to navigate these risks and obstacles to capitalise on global trends and opportunities to achieve their objectives.”
Last month, HSF also added regulatory expert Lesley Symons to the Australian financial services regulatory team. The firm is operating with a new leadership structure following CEO Justin D’Agostino’s ascension to CEO earlier this month.
