Our Areas of Practice

Finance and Technology Face a New Level of Scrutiny – and Opportunity

Alternative Assets

The lines are blurring between public and private markets, creating new opportunities for asset managers and service providers.

Spurred on by the White House, the US SEC and the Department of Labor are redesigning rules that permit broader access to alternative assets including in 401(k) accounts.

But in the EU, UK, and at FSB and IOSCO, public officials are designing rules that potentially move in a different direction — increasing regulatory reporting, restricting leverage, and controlling growth of private credit.

With the US relaxing rules on NBFI and the rest of the world eager to tighten them, you need a partner like Highland Global Advisors to navigate the friction.  

Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Global financial organizations must mobilize now to take control of their future in a complicated and fluid environment where a new approach regulation is looming.

While the European Union was the first mover on AI regulation, the United States is now forging a different and aggressive strategy that will force Europe to reassess. Global companies need a strategy to respond to both.

Highland Global Advisors acts as a key resource for clients integrating AI into their operations, engaging regulators and policymakers on both sides of the Atlantic.    

Tokenization, Digitalization and Crypto

Fast-moving and consequential changes are coming for companies seeking to tokenize, digitalize and move to the blockchain.

The SEC is now technology-oriented and crypto friendly, setting off a race in countries around the world to become established global centers of innovation.

This is creating new opportunities for firms involved in integrating distributed ledger technology.

However, central banks are emerging as an important but often overlooked constituency as they move more quickly and aggressively to study and oversee these financial innovations.  

The Federal Reserve, European Central Bank, Bank of England and the Bank for International Settlements have all published research on tokenized mutual funds.  

Their analyses recognize the potential efficiencies of using blockchain technology for investment funds but raise major concerns around financial stability, regulatory arbitrage, and operational risks.

To inform the dialogue, Highland Global Advisors is leveraging our long-standing relationships with central banks and securities regulators around the world who are leading this work.

Rely on us to identify your strongest opportunities and recommend the most effective strategies for pursuing them.

Private Credit

While Investors and asset managers are embracing private credit, central bankers are casting a far more wary eye on this fast-growing, global market.

Informing the conversation will be critical to avoid reflexive, prescriptive regulatory proposals that could create new cross-jurisdictional conflicts for your business.    

Highland Global Advisors has deep experience in guiding a wide array of asset managers through the global regulatory landscape.

Rely on our team to offer expert policy advice, regulatory strategy, and operational tactics to find new opportunities and avenues for growth.    

Bank Capital Requirements

US and EU regulatory divergence on capital requirements is about to escalate as the Basel III endgame plays out.

This is a crucial moment to start a dialogue, seeking harmonization wherever possible.

Highland Global’s team has a long history of engaging with members of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, the European Central Bank, Financial Stability Board, and the US Federal Reserve on this and other leading issues of the day.

Let us use our connectivity and knowledge to advance your priorities and concerns.

Regulatory Reporting and Disclosures

This is a watershed moment for the mutual fund and asset management industry, thanks to new technologies that dramatically speed up and simplify reporting, disclosure, and proxy voting.

Change is never easy, but old attitudes and regulatory inertia are falling away, and regulators are rightly pushing for the empowerment of investors and end-users of financial products. This is the best time in decades to propose innovations.

Seizing this opportunity will require engagement and education with regulators and stakeholders.

Highland Global Advisors is a leader in this field, widely recognized as an advocate for rule changes that promise to transform shareholder communications.

Our team will partner with you to make meaningful changes that usher in widespread adoption of new technologies.

Structured Finance

Structured Finance regulations are being reexamined in Europe, offering the first opportunity in nearly two decades for American financial institutions to globalize their strategies and achieve scale.

Currently the industry operates under multiple layers of confusing, potentially conflicting regulations across the globe, but that is all about to change—and no serious participants in this space can afford to miss opportunities to grow their franchises.

Highland Global Advisors has deep ties to key decision-makers guiding this work in Brussels, across Europe, and at the Financial Stability Board and IOSCO.

Let’s work together on a strategy to engage policymakers and grow your structured finance footprint.

Sustainable Finance

Investors, financial institutions and companies are walking a tightrope, as EU regulators amend their sustainable finance frameworks, US federal regulators assertively roll back rules, and “blue state” officials attempt to step into the breach with their own, tighter regulations.

It will take careful work to avoid getting wrong-footed in either jurisdiction.

Highland Global Advisors is experienced in helping financial institutions and technology companies meet the moment in this complex and highly charged environment.

Let us help you lead a rethink that aligns your business with the present environment and sets it up for long-term success.

Sanctions and Related Market Developments

Global companies must navigate new geopolitical risks, especially as the US Treasury Department designs new sanctions and implements the recently finalized outbound investment screening framework.

The executives at Highland Global Advisors have experience inside the government coordinating the development of sanctions, and in the private sector advising asset managers on how to navigate gray zones created by uncertainty in the rules.

Highland clients can depend on our strategic approach to implementation, our deep networks of contacts across the US government, and our partnership with experts who can conduct technical assessments of potential investments in China and other target countries.

Call on us to guide you through the challenging times ahead.

Systemic and Market Risk

These days, market shocks can go global in an instant and black swan events no longer seem extraordinary. There is also the new and rising market risk of a potentially less independent US Federal Reserve Bank.

You need an organization that can see around corners to identify unexpected internal and external risks.

Highland Global’s leadership has decades of experience in doing just that. Its founder has been in the trenches, running the US Treasury’s Markets Room at the height of the 2008-2009 global financial crisis, liaising with Wall Street, and briefing multiple Presidents and Treasury Secretaries.

Let us engage with you now to scan the horizon for market shocks that impact your investments, and to shape your engagement with central banks on their systemic risk concerns.