Reverse solicitation: Rules of the road and international enforcement trends
Abstract
This paper discusses the concept of reverse solicitation in the context of cross-border provision of financial services, seeking to combine a theoretical and a pragmatic approach to a topic that has not been — to the authors’ knowledge — subject of in-depth analyses leading to actionable insights. In particular, it offers a practitioner’s perspective on how reverse solicitation is often invoked as a silver bullet to enable a cost-effective market access route, despite being a very narrow (and often without exit) alley. After introducing the concept of reverse solicitation as ‘exception to the rule’ rather than as a de facto alternative to licencing, the author(s) offers an overview of the most recent legal and regulatory sources on reverse solicitation in the EU as well as in other selected markets. The final section concludes with observations on some of the open challenges around the concrete application, both from an investment firm as well as from a supervisory perspective, of reverse solicitation. This article is also included in The Business & Management Collection which can be accessed at https://hstalks.com/business/.
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Author's Biography
Andrea Vianelli is the COO of Asset Management at Laser Digital (Nomura Group), Switzerland, overseeing structuring initiatives firm wide. Before joining Laser Digital in 2023, he led regulatory expansion and fund tokenisation projects at the world’s first digital asset bank. Andrea began his career as a financial regulatory and structuring lawyer, advising on over 30 regulated fund launches and multiple investment firms, later serving as the Head of Legal and Regulatory Affairs at a boutique asset manager. He holds a JD from the University of Padova and an LLM from QMUL (University of London) and is a PhD candidate in financial regulation at the University of Zurich.
Antonio Appon is a Legal & Compliance Officer at Laser Digital (Nomura Group), where he provides support on all the legal, compliance and regulatory matters across the organisation. Before joining Laser Digital, he worked as a Legal Consultant in the Digital Team of a top-tier law firm, advising fintech companies, e-health startups, publishers, and banks on commercial and corporate law, privacy, data protection and data strategy. He began his career as a legal intern at an asset management firm, contributing to various fintech initiatives — from drafting legal opinions on non-fungible token projects to ensuring anti-money laundering/CFT compliance. Antonio holds a master’s degree in law from the University of Padua, graduating summa cum laude. Moreover, he enriched his academic path with study experiences at Vrije Universiteit Brussel and the University of Sydney Business School. In addition, he has been actively involved in blockchain education initiatives for high school students.
