Walkers' lawyers in Guernsey have advised Aston’s founders and senior team on the formation of a new bank headquartered in Guernsey, Bank Aston.
Bank Aston obtained its licence from the Guernsey Financial Services Commission earlier today. It now enters a build out of its operations and infrastructure, with a view to commencing business in 2026.
The Walkers team, led by Regulatory & Risk partner Chris Hutley-Hurst and including Employment partner Sarah Ash and Investment Funds & Corporate senior counsel Charlotte Goncalves, provided detailed legal and regulatory advice in relation to the formation, structuring and operation of the bank.
Commenting on Walkers' wide-ranging input, Chris Hutley-Hurst said: "Having worked with the Aston team on the formation and launch of their payments business in Guernsey, we were very pleased to assist on this milestone matter, which sees Aston launch one of the first new banks in Guernsey for a while, and the only bank to be headquartered here."
"From a Walkers perspective our role on the bank's formation further demonstrates our highly technical regulatory, employment and corporate capabilities and we look forward to supporting Aston in the next phase of building out the new bank."
Paul Gorman, Chief Executive Officer at Bank Aston, added: "This is a very exciting development for Aston, which will allow us to provide much-needed banking support to offshore institutions, especially in Guernsey."
"We were delighted to instruct Walkers to help us with the bank's formation. We have a fantastic relationship with the Walkers' team, having worked with them on various matters. We look forward to continuing to work together towards our full launch."
Walkers has the largest and longest-established global group of dedicated financial regulatory lawyers of all the offshore firms, and the only one to have dedicated financial regulatory lawyers located on the ground in each of their 10 offices.
Walkers' top ranked employment team provides specialist employment advice on the entire life cycle of the employment relationship for contentious and non-contentious matters. They also regularly provide employment expertise on corporate transactions, pensions and immigration and population management issues.