Daniel Franks

Partner

London

+44 20 7859 2766 | +44 7818 576 040

Daniel.Franks@ashurstperkins.com

Overview
Experience

Introduction

With over 25 years in derivatives practice, Daniel is known for his commercial acumen, making complex transactional, legal and regulatory advice clear and accessible.

Daniel Franks has more than 25 years’ experience advising on complex derivatives, structured finance, securities lending and repo arrangements. His clients include the world’s leading global investment banks and asset managers as well as technology and infrastructure providers and other market participants. As well as advising on transactional and advisory matters, Daniel's practice includes advising on contentious derivatives as well as large-scale diligence and regulatory reform projects.

Daniel is renowned in the market for his knowledge in complex structures and transactions and is widely recognized as providing complex advice in a clear, user-friendly manner, and for taking a pragmatic and commercial approach in transactions. Daniel's practice includes advising on a number of FinTech structures, particularly in the context of the application of digital technology for facilitating collateralization, repos and securities lending.

Daniel is the co-author of The Law and Practice of True Sales, the only dedicated text on this subject. He has been consistently recognized as a leading individual for derivatives advice by prominent directories and is an active member of industry associations.

Professional Experience

Leading global investment bank | Lead partner | 2025/2026 | Conducting large-scale netting, collateral and prime brokerage opinion projects for regulatory capital compliance purposes.
Leading asset manager | Lead partner | 2020* – 2026 | Advising on the establishment and management of a synthetic ETF platform across a range of underlying product-types.
Multiple financial institutions, including a multi-lateral financial institution | Lead partner | 2025 – 2026 | Advising on synthetic (TRS) and repo financings to a sub-Saharan sovereign using the sovereign's own debt securities.
Leading investment bank | Lead partner | 2025 – 2026 | Advising on bullion financing transactions with LatAm and Emerging Market European sovereigns, collateralized against the sovereigns' gold reserves.
Leading global investment bank | Lead partner | 2024 – 2025 | Advising on a series of funding agreement-backed repo transactions (FABR) providing secured financing to multiple US insurers.
Leading global investment bank | Lead partner | 2022 – 2026 | Advising on a broad range of synthetic (TRS) and repo financing structures with multiple counterparties covering a range of underlying asset classes, including debt securities, asset-backed securities, various categories of loan and 4(a)(2) private placement securities.
Multiple global investment banks | Lead partner | 2019* - 2025 | Advising on participation in the HQLAx platform for the use of distributed-ledger technologies in post-trade settlement and collateral processes.
Lendingblock* | Lead partner | 2020 | Advising on the establishment of the Lendingblock platform for the secured borrowing and lending of crypto-assets.