About
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James Shipton is the executive director of the Program on International Financial Systems at Harvard Law School. Prior to joining PIFS as executive director, James was a commission member at the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) with responsibility for its Intermediaries (Supervision & Licensing) Division. Previously he was a managing director at Goldman Sachs working in its Executive Office as head of government & regulatory affairs in Asia Pacific and, before that, working in Goldman Sach’s Asian prime brokerage business. Before this, James ran the hedge fund consultancy business of Eurekahedge in Singapore and was a cofounder of Compliance Asia, Asia’s first independent regulatory consulting firm. Previously, James worked for Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein’s (now Commerzbank’s) equity capital markets business in Hong Kong and London. James started his career practicing funds and securities law with Linklaters in Hong Kong and Thailand and is qualified to practice law in Australia, Hong Kong and England. James served on the executive committees of various financial industry bodies in Asia including the Asian Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (ASIFMA) as a vice-chairman, the Alternative Investment Management Association’s (AIMA) Hong Kong & China Chapter as deputy chairman and the Hong Kong Treasury Markets Association. In addition, he served on the business advisory councils of the United Nations Economics and Social Commission for Asia Pacific (UNESCAP) and the Hong Kong Securities and Investment Institute. James earned a BA in Asian politics, history, and economics from Melbourne University and an LLB (Honors) from Monash University. He undertook post graduate studies in Asian law at Hong Kong University and was a fellow at Harvard Law School's Program on International Financial Systems. James is a Fellow of the 2017 class of the Aspen Finance Leaders Fellowship and a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network.
