Rebecca Simmons is a partner in the Firm’s Financial Services and Capital Markets Groups, head of its payments practice and co-head of its FinTech practice. She represents clients in the development of payments, settlement, clearing and other financial technology businesses and systems; in the structuring and development of financial products, novel securities and structured transactions; in insolvency related matters and resolution planning, including living wills; and in regulated transactions such as the development of new lines of business and corporate acquisitions. Her practice areas include U.S. banking and commodities laws and regulation, payments, technology and outsourcing matters, bankruptcy and insolvency issues relating to complex transactions, corporate restructuring, derivatives structuring and regulation, U.S. securities laws and capital markets transactions.
Ms. Simmons has represented financial institutions in the development and operation of payments, clearing and settlement, trading and related systems, including the establishment and ongoing operations of CLS Bank, the foreign exchange settlement system; the development of rules for derivatives clearing organizations to accommodate cleared swap transactions; the development of payment systems utilizing distributed ledger and related technologies; and the development of several synthetic-AAA derivative products companies and services, including the first such service conducted within an insured depository institution. She represented a consortium of banks in the development of Identrus, an early identity certification service, and continues to be involved in issues relating to identity and authentication in web commerce.
Ms. Simmons led the team that advised the Legal Working Group in connection with the U.S. Regulated Liability Network proof of concept, and Baton Systems, Inc. in the implementation of its interbank, distributed-ledger based PvP FX settlement technology. She advises banks on the regulatory and commercial aspects of blockchain-based payments and deposits, as well as more traditional payment systems. She has worked with banks and other financial institutions to identify and address insolvency and related risks in serving as sponsoring members or customers in an existing repo clearing structure, and has assisted in evaluating alternative structures for repo and other clearing systems. She has represented dealers in the derivatives markets in evaluating the risks raised by derivatives clearing and the negotiation of agreements with technology service providers and other outsourcing arrangements. In addition, Ms. Simmons advises clients with respect to trading, settlement and insolvency issues in both cash and derivative instruments, and assists in developing systems to mitigate credit risk in those trading businesses.
Ms. Simmons is a Fellow of the American College of Commercial Finance Lawyers, and a member of P.R.I.M.E. Finance. She is the former chair of the Business Law Section of the New York State Bar Association and the former chair of the Committee on Futures Regulation of the New York State Bar Association. She has served as a member of the Committee on Futures Regulation and the Committee on Banking Law of the New York City Bar Association. In addition, she is a member of the board of the New York chapter of the Swiss-American Chamber of Commerce; Columbia Law School’s board of visitors; and the Maryland Advisory Council of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.
