Steven Burrows

I advise a broad range of banks, broker-dealers, hedge funds, asset managers and corporates on EU and UK financial regulation matters, including:

• authorisation and perimeter issues;
• MiFID II and MiFIR;
• EMIR;
• CSDR;
• SFTR;
• Benchmarks Regulation;
• short selling; and
• MAR.

I am a specialist in financial markets regulation, with a particular emphasis on securities and derivatives trading and financial markets infrastructure. I have a particular interest in the regulation of commodities trading and I advise a number of Category 1 and 2 members of the London Metal Exchange.

My experience includes advising on: MiFID II conduct of business requirements; client money and client assets; the Senior Managers & Certification Regime; systematic internalisers; derivatives clearing; trade transparency and transaction reporting; direct electronic access and algorithmic trading; regulatory margin arrangements; capital requirements and credit risk mitigation techniques; commodity position limits; and benchmarks regulation.

More recently I have advised financial institutions on their first forays into crypto-based products, such as crypto-backed exchange-traded notes and the tokenisation of commodities.

I also have substantial experience advising predominantly sell-side clients on derivatives and structured finance transactions. In particular, I have advised on: finance-linked derivatives and deal contingent transactions (in connection with acquisition financings, project financings, and securitisations); OTC and exchange-traded documentation; clearing documentation; structured repurchase, credit derivatives and total return swap transactions; stock lending; collateral management; and prime brokerage arrangements. 

Prior to starting my legal career, I was briefly an interest rate derivatives trader at a large US investment bank. Combined with my transactional experience, this gives me a depth of product-level knowledge and experience that allows me to provide more practical and focused regulatory advice.