Sarah Thompson is Head of our Financial Regulation Group, and is also Head of our cross-disciplinary ESG Group.

Sarah has experience in advising a broad range of clients on financial regulation matters and is admitted to practice in Northern Ireland, Ireland and England & Wales.

Sarah advises on Central Bank of Ireland authorisation processes, perimeter issues, ongoing compliance with conduct of business and other requirements (with a special focus on ESG matters and on the Individual Accountability Framework and the Senior Executive Accountability Regime, IAF/SEAR), and financial services M&A.

Prior to joining Arthur Cox, Sarah worked in London as a member of the Financial Regulation Group of Linklaters LLP and a partner in the Financial Services Regulatory team of Kirkland & Ellis International LLP.

Relevant Experience

  • Assisting clients with applications for authorisation as MiFID investment firms and electronic money institutions
  • Advising a number of leading US private equity houses on their obligations under MiFID, SFDR and IFR/IFD
  • Assisting a number of global financial institutions in tracking ESG developments and preparing for compliance (at firm and product levels)
  • Advising the Liquidity and Sustainability Facility (designed by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), in collaboration with Afreximbank) on its inaugural repo transaction with Citi
  • Delivering training to client legal and compliance teams on various matters including governance matters, IAF/SEAR and sustainable finance regulation
  • Working with a number of Irish credit institutions to prepare for the introduction of the revised Irish client asset regulations
  • Advising Montagu and Hg on financial services regulatory matters connected to their investments in Waystone
  • Advising Global Shares plc on financial services regulatory matters connected to its acquisition by JP Morgan