Aliya G. Allen
Name: Aliya G. Allen
Firm Name: Graham Thompson
Jurisdiction: Bahamas
Practice Area: Banking & Finance Law

Telephone: +1-242-322-4130
Fax: +1-242-328-1069
Email: aga@gtclaw.com
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Professional Biography:

Leaders in Law endorses Aliya G. Allen as our exclusively recommended Banking & Finance Law expert in Bahamas. If you wish to get in touch with Aliya please use the contact information provided above.

Aliya Allen is a Partner in the firm’s Financial Services, Private Client, Trusts and Estates Practice Groups. Aliya re-joined Graham Thompson in February 2016, following four years as CEO and Executive Director of the Bahamas Financial Services Board.

Aliya’s practice is primarily focused in banking, investment funds, securities, securitisation and capital markets, technology, FinTech, blockchain and digital assets and regulatory matters such as FATCA, CRS, AML/CFT. She has played a leading role in the development and revision of industry defining legislation including the Investment Funds Act, 2019, the Investment Condominium (ICON) Act and in crafting and promoting policy initiatives on FinTech, Blockchain and digital assets.

Recent Engagements Include

  • Advising a global investment manager on the impact of economic substance requirements on its operations.
  • Acting for a global bank in a large-scale independent AML/CFT compliance audit.
  • Acting for a global bank with AUM in excess of $300 million undertaking a significant regulatory and compliance audit for the purposes of a global compliance project.
  • Acting for a syndicate of lenders in a $100 million facility to a utility company taking security over assets and revenue streams.
  • Acting for a major global bank as lead arranger in a billion-dollar facility to a company with global oil and gas assets taking security over local assets.
  • Acting for one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges by daily trading volume in the world in connection with the issuance of a stable coin backed by fiat currency including regulatory interaction and fiduciary structuring.
  • Advising one of the largest technology investment companies in the world valued at over 100 billion in connection with Bahamas cross border securities issues.
  • Advising a banking conglomerate in connection with the issuance via its Bahamas holding company of over 100 million in debt securities.
  • Structuring a crypto-focused investment fund for a significant asset manager.
  • Advising one of the major operating companies of one of the largest shipping and logistics companies in the world on the Bahamas’ economic substance requirements.

Practice Areas

Education

  • LL.B (Hons) University of Buckingham, UK
  • Bar Vocational Course, Manchester University, UK

Admissions

  • Bar of England and Wales
  • The Bahamas Bar

Awards

  • Recognized by IFLR 1000 – Guide to the World’s Leading Financial Law Firms –  as a 2020 “Notable Practitioner”.
  • Citywealth IFC Power Women Top 200, 2016, for outstanding contributions to the financial services industry.

Publications

Membership

  • The Bahamas Bar Association
  • The Honourable Society of Gray’s Inn

Firm Description:

GrahamThompson (GT) prides itself on its unique combination of expert legal skills and real-world experience in working out effective solutions to complex problems.  With 70 years of continuous history and a first-rate balance between seasoned practitioners and dynamic young lawyers, GT is excellence-driven in every way.

Producing and sustaining clientele drawn locally and from across five continents is the focal point of the Firm’s efforts. Integrity, hard work, understanding the “bigger picture” that frames the specific legal needs of clients, creativity, rigorous ethical restraint in the charging of fees, and uncompromising loyalty to the client, are key ingredients of the GT ethos.

The Firm, well known as the largest commercial law firm in the Bahamas, has successfully expanded from its main downtown Nassau location in recent years to better serve its broad range of corporate and private clients. In 2000, the Freeport, Grand Bahama office was opened, followed by the launching of licensed affiliate GTC Corporate Services in 2001, and the Lyford Cay, New Providence office in 2011.  In December 2012, GT expanded to Providenciales, in The Turks and Caicos Islands, where it already enjoys a reputation as one of the leading firms for civil and commercial litigation, and more recently, for transactional real estate matters.

The Firm has an enviable reputation both domestically and globally in a variety of important legal disciplines. Our attorneys are sought after by leaders in the real property, resort development, banking and capital markets, and Domestic tax and Regulatory sectors. We are highly regarded for our expertise in trust and estate planning, commercial matters, civil litigation, family law, securitization, employment and immigration matters.

The Firm is consistently ranked a tier one law firm by the leading international ratings publications, including CHAMBERS AND PARTNERS, IFLR 1000, and CITY WEALTH LEADERS LIST, among others.

Unique among law firms, GT has all through the years made notable contributions to high public service. GT’s former Partners have played critical roles in the Bahamas’ judiciary including three of the nation’s past Attorneys-General, the former Chief Justice, several Justices of the Bahamas Supreme Court, and Court of Appeal, and the Chairman of the Judicial Review Commission. Other Partners have served the Bahamas government as Senators, a Minister of Labour & Housing, a Gaming Board Chairman, a Water & Sewerage Corporation Chairman, a Broadcasting Corporation Chairman, and the Vice-Chair of the College of The Bahamas. Presently, our Partners serve as Chairman of the National Insurance Appeals Tribunal, Deputy Chair of the National Health Insurance Authority and as Directors of the Central Bank of The Bahamas and the National Insurance Board.  This record of service to successive governments and the judiciary is wholly without parallel in the history of the legal profession of the Bahamas.

 

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