Cathrine Foldberg Møller & Mark Brown join in strategic Financial Services hires

Global law firm DLA Piper announces the strategic appointment of two partners to its Financial Regulatory and Capital Markets practices. Effective today, Cathrine Foldberg Møller will join the firm's office in Luxembourg, while Mark Brown will join the firm's office in London.

Joining the firm's Luxembourg office from Simmons & Simmons, where she led the Regulatory practice, Cathrine has built a highly successful pan-European FS regulatory practice, advising a range of financial institutions, insurance companies, FinTech's (including crypto-asset service providers) and other professionals of the financial sector.

With a background as a transactional lawyer, Cathrine’s practice covers traditional banking and payment services, investment activities, product regulation and financial promotion. She advises on the full spectrum of regulatory frameworks, including MiFID, CRD6, Crowdfunding, PSD3, DORA, MiCA and tokenisation, as well as licensing and perimeter matters. She additionally has strong relationships with local regulators and significant M&A experience across the financial services industry. Closely monitoring legal and market developments, she helps clients anticipate and navigate regulatory change.

Mark Brown brings over two decades of experience advising companies on structured products, derivatives and securities lending, regulatory advisory and bank reorganisation projects, including M&A mandates, ESG policy development and complex multijurisdictional and cross-practice mandates. Mark was a partner at Linklaters for many years and, most recently, worked at the UK's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) as a Policy Technical Specialist in both the Infrastructure and Exchanges Directorate - Capital Markets Group and the Sustainable Finance Division.

Mark is widely considered a leading structured finance and derivatives legal advisor, and during his career has worked across multiple geographies, including Tokyo and Hong Kong, before returning to London.

Cathrine and Mark's appointments are the latest strategic hires within the Financial and Capital Markets practices, which has also added Paul Landless, Richard Hughes, and Sudhir Nair in London, Sherlyn Lau in Hong Kong, Charles Ching in Washington, DC, Shana Ramirez in Los Angeles and Katie McShane and Jonny Byrne-Leitch in New York. It also comes as DLA Piper today announces the appointments of Markjan van Schaardenburgh (Private Equity) and Gareth Amdor (Tax).

Colin Wilson, International Group Head of DLA Piper’s Finance practice, commented: “The appointments of Cathrine and Mark highlight our investment in key European financial centres. Their experiences and knowledge will significantly strengthen our financial regulatory and capital market benches and come at a time when we are investing in leading talent to join our firm.”

Xavier Guzman, Country Managing Partner, Luxembourg, DLA Piper, added: “Cathrine's appointment to our Luxembourg office reinforces our ability to lead M&A transactions in the financial services sector, help clients navigate today’s regulatory requirements, and structural shifts reshaping financial services. Her strong background covers both traditional financial services regulations and emerging areas, including crypto-assets and stablecoins. Combined with her cross-border perspective and deep understanding of how clients operate, Cathrine brings a profile perfectly aligned with our commitment to delivering high-quality, forward-looking advice. We are delighted to welcome her to the Luxembourg partnership and the firm.”

Matt Christmas, UK Group Head, Finance & Markets, DLA Piper, concluded: “Mark’s addition represents another step forward in strengthening the depth of our structured finance offering. Alongside recent strategic hires such as Paul Landless, Mark's experience demonstrates our commitment to growing our market-leading offering that can support clients on their most complex and transformative transactions.”

In recent months, DLA Piper's International Finance practice has advised high-profile clients on matters including:

• Advising Banco Santander, on the provision of EUR1.4 billion warehouse financing facility to Klarna.
• Supporting Astra Partners, a specialist investor and developer in the datacentre market, on receiving a EUR340 million financing facility.
• Advising Danaher Corporation, and its Luxembourg-based financing entity in connection with the offer and sale of five tranches of CHF-denominated bonds in an aggregate principal amount of CHF1.25 billion.
• Assisting Bridgepoint Credit, on a financing package to fund the acquisition of a UK data centre power provider.
• Supporting the Saudi Water Partnership Company, on its USD2.2 billion water pipeline project.
• Advising PKO Bank Polski and ING Polska, on the GBP159 million refinancing of Student Depot.