Rosabel NG is the Head of the Derivatives & Structured Products Practice and a Partner in the Financial Services Regulatory, FinTech, and Sustainability & Responsible Business Practices. Prior to joining WongPartnership, Rosabel was an Associate Director in a leading Singapore law corporation and had also practised briefly in London in 2001. She was also seconded to the Legal Department (Treasury) of Citibank N.A., Singapore in 1995.
Rosabel's main areas of practice are financial markets and services regulatory and advisory (with specific focus on the regulation of derivatives and structured products, as well as regulatory compliance and advisory matters relating to primary financial market infrastructure providers), derivatives transactions, structured finance and other treasury-related work.
Her regulatory experience involves advising and assisting major international players who are primary financial market infrastructures on the Singapore regulatory framework for the regulation of financial markets, including securities, commodities, derivatives markets and exchanges, clearing and settlement houses, as well as advising key market intermediaries on the regulatory regime for foreign exchange, securities, commodities and derivative products (including trade reporting, clearing, margining and collateral management). More recently, she has advised on the regulatory regime for markets and intermediaries for carbon-related products and services.
In the FinTech regulatory space, especially where innovative derivatives-based platforms are involved, Rosabel has been proactive and led the Firm's FinTech regulatory initiatives by engaging with regulators and FinTech providers to discuss practical regulatory bridges to address emerging technological and business trends which do not fit squarely in the existing financial markets regulatory framework. She has assisted and advised FinTech providers seeking to provide innovative liquidity platforms and solutions on Singapore's regulatory regime and initiatives, and their applications for regulatory approval.
In the structured products space, she has worked with the issuers, sponsors, arrangers and investors of various listed and unlisted structured notes and products including retail products. She has also advised corporate and individual investors on relevant legal, regulatory and risk-related issues pertaining to derivatives and synthetic investment products.
As regards her structured finance experience, Rosabel has been involved in rated and unrated asset-backed securitisations, and also private structured financing arrangements involving derivatives.
Rosabel is a member of the International Swaps and Derivatives Association's (ISDA) Legal & Regulatory Committee and is an ISDA documentation specialist. She has on numerous occasions prepared, reviewed and negotiated derivatives documentation, including term sheets, risk disclosure statements, be-spoke derivative trading agreements and standard master agreements (such as the ISDA Master Agreement), credit support and collateral arrangements, and other similar agreements.
Rosabel graduated from the National University of Singapore and attended King's College, University of London where she obtained a Master of Laws degree. She is admitted to the Singapore Bar and to the Roll of Solicitors of England & Wales. Rosabel speaks English, Mandarin and French, and is conversant in basic Japanese.
Significant transactions that Rosabel has been involved in include advising / acting for the following:
- The arranger and hedge provider in the first Singapore retail offer of structured notes by a corporate issuer, Keppel Structured Notes Pte. Ltd., in 2006, and acting for Société Générale in the first Singapore retail offer of structured notes by a financial institution in 2012 under the revised regulatory regime after the 2008-2009 global financial crisis.
- A syndicate of lenders and hedging banks, in the preparation, review and negotiation of the terms of their derivatives hedging documentation and security package in connection with the refinancing of a $2.1 billion loan facility extended to one of the largest power generation companies in Singapore.
- A licensed bank on all legal, regulatory and documentary issues relating to the sale and transfer of its OTC derivatives business portfolio to a prospective buyer.
- A consortium comprising local and overseas corporations in respect of their application to the Monetary Authority of Singapore for a digital wholesale bank licence to be issued by the Authority.
- A UK-based FinTech service provider seeking to provide innovative technological liquidity platforms and solutions to facilitate foreign exchange and foreign exchange derivative trades in emerging market currencies in its successful application for regulatory approval under Singapore's initial FinTech initiatives.
- Europe's largest operator of securities and derivatives exchanges and clearing houses in the establishment of its Asian clearing and trading venues in Singapore, and on the regulatory aspects of its proposed merger with another major international financial market infrastructure provider, including merger control approvals, exemptions and clearances.
- Various participants in Singapore's climate impact ecosystem on the legal and regulatory considerations for establishing a hub for carbon-related products and services.
Related Practices
- Derivatives & Structured Products
- Financial Services Regulatory
- FinTech
- Sustainability & Responsible Business
- Law Gazette – Going "Green" the Singapore way 2011
- Getting The Deal Through – Banking Regulation, Singapore Chapter 2016
- Butterworths Journal of International Banking & Financial Law – Inside and outside Singapore’s proposed FinTech regulatory sandbox: balancing supervision and innovation 2016
- Chambers Asia-Pacific – Singapore Country Overview 2017
Since 2023, Rosabel had the distinction of being listed in Asia Business Law Journal’s A-list of the Top 100 Lawyers in Singapore. She also won the Asialaw Lawyer of the Year Award (for Singapore) in 2020, and was the winner of the ILO Client Choice Awards 2012 for Derivatives in Singapore. She is ranked and recognised as a leading and top-tier practitioner by independent publications such as: Chambers Asia-Pacific – Asia-Pacific's Leading Lawyers for Business for Capital Markets: Securitisation & Derivatives since 2016; The Legal 500: Asia Pacific – The Client's Guide to the Asia Pacific Legal Profession for Financial Services Regulatory since 2017 and for Capital Markets: Structured Finance, Derivatives and Securitisation 2023; Who's Who Legal: Capital Markets since 2016 and Who’s Who Legal: South East Asia 2024; Expert Guides – Guide to the World's Leading Women in Business Law for structured finance and securitisation since 2012; Asialaw Leading Lawyers – The Guide to Asia-Pacific's Leading Lawyers for Structured Finance; and IFLR 1000 Women Leaders.
"Rosabel Ng is client-oriented and has an excellent sense of the business needs." – The Legal 500: Asia Pacific, 2023. Rosabel "demonstrates that she is an exceptional lawyer in every way possible, through her sharpness of mind and years of understanding clients' requirements, and being ahead of the curve in connection with Singapore's regulatory environment." – Chambers Asia-Pacific, 2022. Rosabel is an "excellent, go-to lawyer." – Chambers Asia-Pacific, 2021. She "has a strong background in both regulatory and transactional matters" – The Legal 500: Asia Pacific, 2021. Rosabel is "a leader in the industry." – Chambers Asia-Pacific, 2019 and "one of the stars of the firm " – The Legal 500: Asia Pacific, 2019.