SCI CRT Awards Issue Oct 19

Law Firm of the Year
LAW FIRM OF THE YEAR
WINNER: CLIFFORD CHANCE
Clifford Chance has been
involved in the capital relief
trades market from the
beginning and the past year
has underscored the firm’s
dominance and influence across all sectors
of the CRT business.
Explaining the firm’s dominance in this
sector, partner Jessica Littlewood says: “We
have always been very active in this market,
even before the financial crisis. In the aftermath
of the crisis many of the people involved
in synthetic securitisation moved on to other
things. However, we continued to treat it as
a strategic priority, which meant we were
perfectly placed to help banks and investors as
they have re-entered the market over the past
five or six years.”
Both Littlewood and fellow partner Timothy
Cleary, also attribute the firm’s success to its
hands-on approach, and unique ability to
combine both transactional and regulatory
expertise, as well as diverse geographical
coverage, into a single offering to meet clients’
needs. As a result, Cleary says: “With our
long history in the sector, we have seen pretty
much everything. That extensive experience,
combined with an in-depth focus and deep
resources are what give us the edge.”
More recently, the extent of Clifford
Chance’s reach has become very clear. With
the exception of France and Italy (where there
are a number of local firms who are active
acting for originators), the firm has acted as
originator and drafting counsel on the vast
“
MANY OF THE PEOPLE INVOLVED
IN SYNTHETIC SECURITISATION
MOVED ON TO OTHER THINGS.
HOWEVER, WE CONTINUED TO
TREAT IT AS A STRATEGIC PRIORITY
”
majority of synthetic securitisation transactions
in the market over the past 12 months.
This has included transactions for banks
in the UK, Spain, Germany, Singapore, Japan,
Canada, Switzerland and the US, as well as the
ground-breaking transaction for the African
Development Bank. In addition, in cases
where Clifford Chance has not acted for the
originator, it has often acted for protection
sellers, such as EIF and IFC, as well as various
hedge funds and pension funds.
The CRT and synthetic securitisation
team is anchored by partners Littlewood
and Cleary in London, both of whom have
been active in the market for many years.
They are backed up by key partners in other
offices – including Jose Manuel Cuenca
(Madrid), Gareth Old and David Felsenthal
(New York), Oliver Kronat (Frankfurt), Mark
Mehlen and Steve Jacoby (Luxembourg),
Francis Edwards (Hong Hong), Paul Landless
(Singapore), Lounia Czupper (Brussels),
Tanja Svetina (Milan), Jonathan Lewis (Paris)
and Leng-Fong Lai (Tokyo) – and a large
team of associates across the network with
relevant expertise.
Clifford Chance’s primary strategic goal
is to “remain the ‘go to’ firm for all market
participants looking to execute risk transfer
transactions, whatever their jurisdiction,
the transaction type or the relevant regulatory
framework”. The all-encompassing list
of transactions across every asset class it has
been involved with indicates that goal has
been achieved.
Notably, the firm has worked on all of the
key innovative transactions seen in the market
over the past year, including:
• Room2Run (African Development
Bank) – the first synthetic securitisation
by a multilateral development bank
• SSPAIN 2019-1 CLN (Santander) –
the first synthetic securitisation of a
portfolio of US auto loans.
• Syon (Lloyds) – the first full synthetic
securitisation of a portfolio of residential
mortgages
• All of the significant risk transfer
portfolio credit insurance transaction
executed in the past year (other than
the Agency transactions in the US)
Jessica Littlewood, partner
“
THAT EXTENSIVE EXPERIENCE,
COMBINED WITH AN IN-DEPTH
FOCUS AND DEEP RESOURCES
ARE WHAT GIVE US THE EDGE
”
www.structuredcreditinvestor.com
SCI Capital Relief Trades Awards | October 2019
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