About me

Philipp Paech is an Associate Professor of Law at LSE and has been an educator, researcher, and policy consultant specialising in the regulation and law of financial services for over 20 years. Since 2017, he has focused on the regulation of Digital Finance. He served as the chair of the EU Commission expert group on FinTech (‘ROFIEG’), and the group's recommendations became a foundational document for the EU Digital Finance Strategy.

Philipp teaches and conducts research at the London School of Economics and Political Science, where his educational portfolio includes master's courses in International Financial Regulation and International Financial Law. He also convenes five different executive master courses, covering the law and policy of financial markets, including digital financial services. He convenes and co-teaches a very popular co-curricular Digital Finance Course for all Masters and Bachelor students at LSE Law School.

Philipp has been appointed a Distinguished Global Professor of Law at Notre Dame University and a Visiting Professor at the Institute for Law and Finance of Frankfurt University. He previously held visiting appointments at the European University Institute (EUI) in Florence, Bocconi University in Milan, and Tokyo University. He is an attorney-at-law in Frankfurt and an accredited mediator in the UK.

Dr Paech consults for public sector and international governmental organisations, including the UK Foreign Office, the European Commission, the European Central Bank, and the European Parliament. He has been a member of several international expert groups, notably chairing the European Commission’s Expert Group on Regulatory Obstacles to Financial Innovation (2018-19). Currently, he serves as a member and sub-group co-chair of the UNIDROIT Study Group on Digital Assets and Private Law (2020-23). His contributions have been instrumental in influencing legal and regulatory reforms for nearly two decades.

Administrative support: Law.Reception@lse.ac.uk

Philipp specialises in the public and private law of financial markets. His original focus was on the antagonistic relationship between risk and liquidity, with an emphasis on legal risk management through legal devices within financial institutions and the international compatibility of legal and regulatory regimes.

Since becoming chair of the EU Expert Group on Regulatory Obstacles to Financial Innovation in 2018, Philipp's research interest has shifted towards the systemic and societal implications of the digitalisation and datafication of the financial market, increasingly focusing on consumer welfare. This shift is driven by his insight into how consumers’ agency and autonomy are progressively limited by the merging of financial services and the data economy.

The Value of Insolvency Safe Harbours (2016) The Oxford Journal of Legal Studies 36(4), 855-884
The Governance of Blockchain Financial Networks The Modern Law Review 80(6) (2017), 1073-1110
Securities, Intermediation and the Blockchain – An Inevitable Choice between Liquidity and Legal Certainty? (2016) Uniform Law Review 21(4), 612-639
Conflict of Laws, Close-out Netting and Insolvency (2014) Journal of Corporate Law Studies 14, 419-452
The Enforceability of Close-out Netting (2013) Journal of International Banking and Financial Law 28(1) 13-19
Netting, Finanzmarktstabilität und Bankenrestrukturierung (2010) WM Zeitschrift für Wirtschafts- und Bankrecht 64(42), 1965-1971
EU Post Trading, the 'Barriers' and Harmonisation of Law (2006) Euredia 19(3-4), 279-307

Mediation of Financial Disputes, in C Titi and K Fach, ‘Mediation in International Commercial and Investment Disputes’, Oxford University Press (2019), with I. Forestieri
Conflict of Laws and Relational Rights, in L Gullifer and J Payne, Intermediation and Beyond, Hart (2019)
Market Needs as Paradigm - Breaking up the thinking on EU Securities Law, in P.H. Conac, J. Thévenoz and U. Segna, ‘Intermediated Securities’, Cambridge University Press (2013)
Commentary on the Geneva Securities Convention, Article 1(d), Article 1(n) (with K Löber), Article 1(o) (with K Löber), Article 1(p), (with K Löber), Article 4, Article 6, Article 22, Article 27 (with K Löber), in H Kanda, L Thévenoz and CW Mooney (eds.), Official Commentary on the Geneva Securities Convention, Oxford University Press (2012)

30 Recommendations on Regulation, Innovation and Finance, December 2019, principal author, commissioned by the European Commission
A financial regulatory regime reform template to ensure financial stability for the Chinese economy, 2017-2018, with K Yuan, D Lou, H Zhou, funded by the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office
Shadow banking – Legal issues of collateral assets and insolvency law, 2013; funded by the ECON Committee of the European Parliament
Directors’ Duties and Liability, 2011 to 2013, with C Gerner-Beuerle and E Schuster and the participation of researchers in 28 EU Member States; funded by the European Commission
Draft Principles regarding the enforceability of close-out netting provisions,2012, commissioned by UNIDROIT
The need for an international instrument on the enforceability of close-out netting in general and in the context of bank resolution, 2011, commissioned by UNIDROIT
Cross-border issues of securities law, 2011, funded by the ECON Committee of the European Parliament
EU Legal Certainty Group: Solutions to legal barriers related to post-trading, 2008, principal author, study conducted as secretary to the European Commission DG FISMA Legal Certainty Group, not currently available online.
Group of Thirty, Final Monitoring Report on the Global Clearing and Settlement Project, Report of the Legal Subcommittee of the Global Clearing and Settlement Project, 33-46 (2006), principal author

New regulations or novel regulation for crypto-assets and DeFI – the folly of hybrid laws, conference paper presented at LSE (2023) https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4579968
The International Law of Crypto-Asset Settlement – Functional Analysis and Draft Principles, conference paper presented at UNIDROIT (2019) https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2792639
Repos and Derivatives Portfolios between Insolvency Law and Regulation, LSE Law, Society and Economy Working Papers 13/2017 https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2984199
Systemic Risk, Regulatory Powers and Insolvency Law (2010), Institute for Law and Finance, University of Frankfurt Working Paper Series No 116 https://www.ilf-frankfurt.de/fileadmin/_migrated/content_uploads/ILF_WP_116.pdf
Cross-border Bank Resolution, conference paper presented at British Institute for International and Comparative Law (2014), https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2464460
Post Trading of Securities: The European Response to Barriers (2009) Journal of International Banking and Financial law (24)4, 211-214, with K. Löber
Interconnecting Law of Securities Holding and Transfer (2007) Journal of International Banking and Financial Law 22(1) 9-15, with K. Löber