Dr. Nick Wittek has a unique skill set of combining structured finance, derivatives, and asset management experience with technological innovation. With 20 years of experience, he is a go-to adviser for financial institutions, asset managers, institutional clients, and fintechs to advise on the structuring, regulation, and documentation of structured finance transactions and the use of distributed ledger technology (DLT) and blockchain in this field and beyond.
He has an extensive background working on securitizations (ABS/asset-backed securities and ABCP/asset-backed commercial paper), loan funds, Schuldschein loans, ISDA-based (International Swaps and Derivatives Association) swaps and derivatives, repos, covered bonds, repackagings, MTN-programs (medium-term note), asset-based lending, factoring and supply chain financings, as well as related clearing, settlement, and regulatory issues including the new German law on electronic securities (eWpG).
Nick is part of the Jones Day FinTech task force. He has advised market participants on the use, implementation, and regulatory aspects of DLT and blockchain in the financial and corporate industry sector including (utility and security) token issuances, stable coins and central bank digital currencies (CBDC), tokenization, crypto brokerage, crypto custody, digital assets, and digital identities and implications resulting from the draft Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCAR). He has advised on a number of market first and award-winning transactions.
Nick is recommended by JUVE for structured finance transactions and by The Legal 500 and Chambers for fintech work. Nick is part of the Platform Industry 4.0 legal working group and coauthor of the Industrie 4.0 platform conditions. He has also (co)authored several articles on securitizations, debt/loan funds, and blockchain.
- University of Augsburg (Dr. jur. 2004); Second State Examination (Bavarian State Ministry of Justice, 2000); Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich (First State Examination 1998); University of London (LL.B. with honors 1996); King's College London (Diploma in Legal Studies 1995)
- Federal Republic of Germany and England and Wales
Recommended in Chambers FinTech (2020 and 2021): extremely strong understanding of blockchain technology; clients say he is "very accessible and responsive, with great client focus"; "he goes the extra mile to understand the tech advances and the opportunities and limitations they bring — this is rare"
Recommended in JUVE Handbook 2020/2021: "advice at the highest legal level and detailed knowledge of operational procedures"
- German and English