- Advising a digital assets market infrastructure provider on its application for authorisation by the Bank of England as a central counterparty under UK EMIR, including conducting gap analyses of the applicant's self-assessment against the applicable legislative framework and preparing comfort letters on capital, model validation and mutualised resources.
- Advising a cloud-native service provider to a payment system on its potential regulation as a Critical Third Party under FSMA or as a Specified Service Provider under the Banking Act 2009, including a comparative analysis of the two regimes and their implications for the client's business model.
- Advising a Middle Eastern banking group on the regulatory dimensions of its disposal of a UK bank and investment management platform, including FCA permissions mapping.
- Mapping the incoming credit risk mitigation changes under Basel 3.1 for a major international bank, and preparing a legal opinion on the eligibility of guarantees and credit insurance as unfunded credit risk mitigation for large building societies.
- Reviewing trust structures for a stablecoin issuer ahead of coin issuance and FCA authorisation, including analysis of the definition of "holder" and the regulatory and contractual implications of agreement by conduct.
- Acting on the establishment and first closing of a £1bn+ evergreen real estate social housing fund structured as a UK private REIT and one of the first institutional funds to carry the "Sustainable Impact" label under the UK's Sustainability Disclosure Requirements regime.
- Advising an independent sponsor on the formation of their third deal-by-deal investment structure, in connection with an investment in a technology aggregator with operations in the UK and Saudi Arabia.
Expertise
Mark Smith advises on financial regulation and digital assets. His regulatory practice spans prudential regulation, digital assets and financial market infrastructure, as well as the regulatory dimensions of corporate and finance transactions.
He advises regulated and unregulated entities on their authorisation requirements and ongoing compliance obligations across payment services, cryptoassets and financial market infrastructure, and on the prudential frameworks, including Basel 3.1, UK CRR and MIFIDPRU, applicable to credit institutions and investment firms. He is regularly engaged on the regulatory work that sits alongside corporate and financing transactions, including FCA permissions analysis and the structural implications of change of control and restructuring.
Mark joined Addleshaw Goddard as a trainee solicitor in 2024, completing seats in asset-based lending, real estate disputes, financial regulation and private funds. Prior to joining the firm, he worked as a Senior Paralegal in the Financial Institutions Group at Osborne Clarke, where he acted on secondaries transactions with a focus on compliance with UK, EU and US regulatory frameworks. Before that, he spent several years at Hargreaves Lansdown, developing a practical grounding in financial services markets from an industry perspective.
He holds an MA in Law with Distinction from the University of Bristol and regularly supervises a firm-sponsored pro bono legal clinic.