Oxford Business Law Blog

The securities-based regulation crowdfunding market in the United States has grown rapidly from $23 million of capital raised in 2016 to $244 million in 2020. Figure 1 below displays the number of...

Following the recommendations suggested by the Ibero-American Institute for Law and Finance, Ecuador implemented the most ambitious corporate law reforms observed in Latin America in the past decades...

Over the coming months, years, and decades the digital transformation will raise questions as to whether we need new laws and regulations, should modify existing ones, or do nothing at all. Much of...

On 25 November 2021, the Law Commission published an Advice to Government on smart legal contracts. In this post, we provide a brief overview of our project and our conclusions. We also discuss, as...

In June 2021, Germany transcended its conservative securities hinterland by departing from the paper-based securities realm. The new Electronic Securities Act strategically anchors Germany in the...

Data have become a critical resource for many business models as a result of digitalization and globalization. Individuals disclose personal information intentionally and unintentionally over the...

Technological innovation is revolutionising payments at a rapid pace. As the payments sector continues to innovate to meet the consumer demand for more efficient, innovative, and faster payment...

Financial technology (Fintech) brings about paradigm changes to the traditional financial system, presenting both challenges and opportunities. In 2020, when my book ‘Fintech Regulation in China:...

The ‘BigTechs’—especially Google, Amazon, Facebook and Apple (GAFA) in the United States, and Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent (BATs) in China—have grown to permeate all aspects of society and the economy...

In our new article (forthcoming in the European Business & Organization Law Review) we analyze the (revised) EU strategy on sustainable finance announced in two steps in April and July 2021. We...

The Reserve Bank of India (‘RBI’) first issued payments data localization-related sanctions in April 2021, restricting American Express and Diners Club from adding new customers for six months with...

Financial institutions are increasingly relying on digital platforms as a means to market and distribute their products and services to customers, in line with the broader trend towards the...

The pandemic crisis has accelerated the entry of financial technology (‘fintech’) firms into the banking industry. Some of the new fintech banks are owned or controlled by commercial enterprises. As...

Investors rely on information produced by intermediaries such as research analysts and auditors, or other legal sources such as company regulatory filings to obtain knowledge about offerings in...

In its Financial Stability Report for the year, the Reserve Bank of India cautioned that there ‘is no room for complacency on cyber security’. The central bank’s warning is timely. The Indian...

The EU’s Fintech Action Plan (more recently, the Digital Finance Strategy) and the Sustainable Finance Action Plan represent important pillars of the current European policy agenda. While the two...

Private sector innovation—whether it is fintech, biotechnology, the platformisation of the economy, or other developments—seems, over and over, to be catching regulators by surprise. Financial...

The shock suspension by Chinese regulators of Ant Financial’s $37 billion initial public offering points to a tougher and more complex compliance environment for fintech firms going forward. As Ant...

Fintech’s reach has been steadily expanding India, with a proliferation of intermediaries, particularly in the payments and lending spheres. While not wholly devoid of activity, the digital banking...

During the COVID-19 pandemic a new consensus has emerged which castigates modern finance for its preponderance towards creation of excessive leverage and asset bubbles due to excessive borrowing,...

Part A of this post offered a high-level overview of DeFi by focusing on one particular DeFi project, Sushiswap. In this Part B, the post will explore legal and compliance considerations that are...