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Katie O'Hara

Senior Associate
About

Katie is a financial services regulatory lawyer with experience advising financial institutions including investment firms, fund and asset managers, insurers, banks, fintechs, payment services firms and lenders. In particular, Katie’s advice has included advice on general regulatory perimeter guidance issues and compliance; regulatory authorisations and notifications; M&A transactions; ESG disclosures; new product launches; regulatory change projects; and contentious matters such as advising clients subject to regulatory enforcement and supervision.

Katie also works closely with firms looking to set up operations in the UK. She has been involved in all aspects of the lifecycle from carrying out the requisite regulatory due diligence on a target company to be acquired by a client (often project managing the regulatory due diligence across multiple jurisdictions); to advising clients on the systems and controls to be implemented within the business, including ensuring robust governance and oversight is implemented; to advising on ongoing regulatory compliance and dealing with the regulator as necessary.

Professional QualificationsSolicitor of the Senior Courts of England and Wales

EXPERIENCE

  • Advising lending clients, currently operating under the BNPL exclusion, on the incoming FCA rules and the action they must take to comply.
  • Advising on ESG disclosure requirements.
  • Coordinating and managing regulatory and compliance due diligence reviews across numerous jurisdictions in connection with acquisitions of regulated businesses.
  • Preparing FCA and PRA change in control notifications in respect of M&A transactions.
  • Advising on regulatory outsourcing requirements, including advising a client on their material contracts and identifying whether these were SYSC 8 contracts and amendments to be made to draft outsourcing agreements
  • Advising on FCA applications including: authorisation, variation of permission, appointing SMFs and authorisation cancellation.
  • Worked on the team representing a UK listed company, Dixons Carphone Plc, in relation to a long-running enforcement investigation brought by the FCA, which culminated in an RDC hearing in December 2008 and publication of the FCA Final Notice on 13 March 2019
  • Completing regulatory due diligence and advising on complex regulatory aspects of the financing for the acquisition of a large UK holiday park in a transaction worth £3 billion.
  • Forming part of the team awarded The Lawyer’s “Regulatory & Investigations Team of the Year 2019”.
Education
  • University of Leeds, B.A., History

Prior Experience

Katie previously worked in the Legal team of a UK-based foreign exchange and international payments firm.

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