Regulatory Matters in a Changing Financial World

As counsel to global financial institutions and technology companies, Gustavo Aceves-Rivera (LLM 12) spends his days helping companies large and small navigate a business world that is constantly responding to rapidly evolving technologies and regulations.

"Things are changing fast in the area of business technologies, payments and sustainable finance. Companies often rely on external counsel to develop and implement a growth strategy in line with everything they need to do to be successful and in compliance with the law," says Aceves-Rivera. "This is especially challenging for companies that seek to attract global investors, or are looking to expand across national boundaries, because of the differences in laws and regulations."

Based in Mexico City, Aceves-Rivera helps clients rise to those challenges as Head of Banking, Finance, and Digital Law for Ontier, a law firm with 20 offices worldwide. He and his legal team counsel businesses on digital payment infrastructures, green and sustainability-linked loans, and financing transactions. It's a job that puts him in the hotbed of change occurring at the intersection of technology, law and finance; a fast-paced world, but one in which Aceves-Rivera thrives. He enjoys the challenge of keeping up with new technologies and understanding how they fit into the existing regulatory framework.

With advances in technology outpacing the structures built to accommodate it, companies rely on Aceves-Rivera's guidance to bring new technologies online. Similarly, regulators seek his counsel on how they might need to change to meet new realities. It's a dynamic he finds both interesting and challenging.

He also enjoys collaborating with colleagues located in different parts of the world who are wrestling with the same challenges, and says it takes him back to his days as a student at The Fletcher School.

"In a way, that's what led me to study at Fletcher – my interest in and yearning to learn from people from different backgrounds with different interests who come from a variety of countries. I would say that's what differentiates a Fletcher School education from that of other top U.S. or international universities–a global perspective on global issues."

When he enrolled at Fletcher, Aceves-Rivera first thought he might enter the world of civil service and possibly seek an ambassadorship. But Fletcher, he says, "took me to a different but equally exciting path, one that helped me see how I could leverage finance, technology, and law in the private sector to play my part in creating a better, more sustainable world. Fletcher was a life-turning experience: It gave me a sense of community and wove together a network of life-long friends and colleagues that crosses oceans and national boundaries."

For Aceves-Rivera, helping businesses succeed and become more profitable by adopting new technologies gives him the satisfaction of knowing he is improving the lives of consumers who benefit from those technologies -- new payment systems, for example, that reduce fraud and provide access to a world of financial services for many who have felt locked out.

"I really believe in the power of technology to improve our lives in important ways, and it is rewarding to play a small part in making things better, more secure, productive and convenient for so many people."

Read more about Fletcher's Master of Laws in International Law (LLM) degree program.