Financial Law and FinTech

LAWS70632 Financial Law and FinTech 30 Semester 1 Postgraduate Taught Level 7 Joseph Lee Unit coordinator Law 1 FHEQ level (Framework for Higher Education Qualifications) ' Undefined ' European Credit Transfer & Accumulation System Rating : 15.0 This module provides a comprehensive examination of the legal entitlements of parties engaged in financial and investment contracts. It also thoroughly explores the UK regulatory system overseen by the Financial Conduct Authority, which encapsulates the entirety of investment regulation –essentially everything beyond the realms of banking and insurance. This module is pivotal to anyone practising in finance law, as it focuses on the foundational principles rooted in the EU's Markets in Financial Instruments Directive, other relevant regulations, and UK law.Throughout this module, students will delve into the various aspects of business conduct regulation, financial promotion and investor protection, fintech regulation, and data governance within the context of financial markets. They will critically analyse the complexities associated with contract formation, as well as the liabilities arising from malfeasance such as market abuse and breaches of fiduciary duty in asset management.Furthermore, this module places particular emphasis on the legal and regulatory architecture for the financial technologies such as Fintech, Regtech, Suptech, and Legaltech. It provides insights into how cutting-edge technologies such as blockchain, AI, and Big Data are being developed and evolved within various sectors of the financial services industry. These sectors include but are not limited to retail and private banking, asset management, trading platforms, and payment systems.As a result, this course offers a panoramic view of the legal and regulatory landscape for these sectors. It touches on numerous legal, regulatory, and policy challenges from both prudential and conduct perspectives. Among the topics covered are internal systems and controls, best execution rules, fiduciary obligations of asset managers to their clients, anti-money laundering controls, market abuse, data protection, and cyber security.Week 1: IntroductionWeek 2-3: Financial markets and regulatorsWeek 4-5: Senior managers and certification regimeWeek 6: Capital market and investor protectionWeek 7: Asset management and investor protectionWeek 8: Market integrity insider dealing, and market abuseWeek 9: AI and financial marketsWeek 10-11: Crowdfunding regulationWeek 12-13: Crypto-finance Week 14-15: Assessment  This module provides a comprehensive examination of the legal entitlements of parties engaged in financial and investment contracts. It also thoroughly explores the UK regulatory system overseen by the Financial Conduct Authority, which encapsulates the entirety of investment regulation –essentially everything beyondthe realms of banking and insurance. This module is pivotal to anyone practising in finance law, as it foucses on the foundational principles rooted in the EU's Markets in Financial Instruments Directive, other relevant regulations, and UK law.Throughout this module, students will delve into the various aspects of business conduct regulation, financial promotion and investor protection, fintech regulation, and data governance within the context of financial markets. They will critically analyse the complexities associated with contract formation, as well as the liabilities arising from malfeasance such as market abuse and breaches of fiduciary duty in asset management.Furthermore, this module places particular emphasis on the legal and regulatory architecture for the financial technologies such as Fintech, Regtech, Suptech, and Legaltech. It provides insights into how cutting-edge technologies such as blockchain, AI, and Big Data are being developed and evolved within various sectors of the financial services industry. These sectors include but are not limited to retail and private banking, asset management, trading platforms, and payment systems.As a result, this course offers a panoramic view of the legal and regulatory landscape for these sectors. Ittouches on numerous legal, regulatory, and policy challenges from both prudential and conduct perspectives. Among the topics covered are internal systems and controls, best execution rules, fiduciary obligations of asset managers to their clients, anti-money laundering controls, market abuse, data protection, and cyber security.Week 1: IntroductionWeek 2-3: Financial markets and regulatorsWeek 4-5: Senior managers and certification regimeWeek 6: Capital market and investor protectionWeek 7: Asset management and investor protectionWeek 8: Market integrity insider dealing, and market abuseWeek 9: AI and financial marketsWeek 10-11: Crowdfunding regulationWeek 12-13: Crypto-financeWeek 14-15: Assessment  The fundamental objective of this module is to identify and examine the cornerstone principles of financial regulation that are pertinent to financial markets and burgeoning financial technologies. The course casts a broad net, encompassing regulatory initiatives from the UK, EU, and international jurisdictions, addressing a range of financial markets, products, and technologies. This includes exploring cutting-edge technological advancements such as blockchain technology, artificial intelligence, and data analytics, and their applications within these markets.The module also looks at the emerging market spaces such as Decentralized Finance (DeFi), providing students with an up-to-date understanding of the contemporary financial landscape.The regulatory areas covered in this module include the conduct of business, financial promotion and investor protection, insider dealing and market abuse, as well as the issuance of securities and crypto-assets. This module also focuses on the intersections of financial crime and data governance, providing students with a holistic view of the regulatory complexities and challenges faced in today's financial markets. Demonstrate detailed knowledge of principles of financial regulation and of the substantive law relating to investment contracts as well as law and regulation for financial technology (FinTech) Evaluate critically the effectiveness of financial regulation in the context of investment business and the law and regulation for financial technology. Demonstrate in-depth knowledge of principles of common law and equity in relation to investment business. Analyse issues arising from the inter-action of principles of substantive law and financial regulation in a specific financial market context. Students' learning for the taught element of this course unit is 100% online. There will be a combination of online materials provided that students must engage with, including podcasts, videos, lectures and interviews. Students will be able to complete diverse online tasks to monitor and evidence their achievement of the learning objectives. Students will also learn through engaging in directed and independent wider reading. Whilst the majority of this unit will be accessible in an asynchronous manner increasing the agility and flexibility of learning, there will be opportunities to interact with Unit leads and peers during synchronous teaching sessions. We will use online tools to facilitate peer-peer interaction and small group activities.Students' learning for the taught element of this course unit is 100% online. The course will make full use of eLearning and innovative online technology. The development of the course will be supported by eLearning technologists. There will be a combination of online materials provided that students must engage with, including podcasts, videos, lectures, and interviews. To this end, the Blackboard site will be populated with a range of learning materials, such as (but not limited to): embedded videos/lectures, interactive activities (eg. case excerpts and writing prompts), reading lists, links to e-media resources and podcasts (interviews with academics in the area).  Students will be able to complete diverse online tasks to monitor and evidence their achievement of the learning objectives. There will be asynchronous activities for students to complete in their own time and fortnightly synchronous sessions.Whilst the majority of this unit will be accessible in an asynchronous manner increasing theagility and flexibility of learning, there will be opportunities to interact with Unit leads and peers during synchronous sessions. These seminars will discuss independent work set in advance, and encourage peer-to-peer presentation, discussion, and feedback. There will be an emphasis on independent research and argument-building, with students building up a body of notes from their reading as the course unfolds to rely on when completing assessments. Students will also learn through engaging in directed and independent wider reading.There will be office hours with teaching staff where students can drop in(online) and ask questions, a discussion board where students can discuss content with staff and each other, and students will be encouraged to form study groups that regularly meet to encourage a social aspect to the course and to discuss legal issues. In this respect, online tools will be used to facilitate peer-peer interaction and small group activities. 0 Other 10% 2 Written assignment (inc essay) 60% 7 Oral assessment/presentation 30% <ul> <li>Niamh Moloney, EU Securities and Financial Markets Regulation (OUP, 2016)</li> <li>Eilis Ferran & Look Chan Ho, Principles of Corporate Finance Law ( OUP 2014)</li> <li>Collin Bamford, Principles of International Financial Law (OUP 2015)</li> <li>Joseph Lee, Crypto-finance, Law and Regulation, Routelege (2022) Joseph Lee & Aline Darbellay, Data Governance in AI, FinTech, and LegalTech, Edward Elgar (2022)</li></ul> 0 0 0