Iwa Salami

Dr Iwa Salami

Reader (Associate Professor)

Centre of FinTech

Department of Law & Criminology , Royal Docks School of Business and Law

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  • Reader (Associate Professor) in Financial Law and Regulation
  • Co-Director, Centre of FinTech
  • Programme Leader, LLM FinTech Law
  • Programme Leader, Postgraduate Research Degrees (Law)
  • Deputy Chair, School's Research Degrees Sub-Committee
  • Executive Board Member, Centre for the Study of States, Markets and People
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Qualifications

  • PhD (London)
  • LLM (London)
  • LLB (London)
  • PG Cert in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education
  • FHEA

Areas Of Interest

  •  Regulation of mobile payments, crowd-funding;
  • Regulation of Web 3.0 application in finance including crypto-assets, stablecoins, decentralised finance (DeFi), Non-fungible tokens (NFTs), the metaverse;
  • Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) - wholesale and retail;
  • CBDCs and regional projects;
  • Legal Dimensions of DLT/ Blockchain Technology.

Dr Salami is keen to supervise potential PhD students interested in researching any of the areas listed above or other related aspects of FinTech regulation.

Iwa Salami
i.salami@uel.ac.uk 020 8223 2108 US.2.17, University Square
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OVERVIEW

Dr Iwa Salami is a Reader (Associate Professor) in Law at the Royal Docks School of Business and Law. She is the Co-Director of the Centre of FinTech; the Programme Leader for the LLM in FinTech Law and the Postgraduate Research Degrees in Law; and the Deputy Chair of the School's Research Degrees Sub-committee. She is a member of the Executive Board of the Centre for the Study of States, Markets and People and a member of the Governing Council of the British Institute in Eastern Africa (BIEA). 

Prior to joining UEL, she was a research fellow at the Centre for Commercial Law Studies at Queen Mary, University of London where she lectured and thereafter served as external examiner on the Banking and Finance Law Programmes. She is a visiting lecturer at the University of Westminster Business School. She has previously worked in the UK and abroad, including at the Government Legal Service and the African Development Bank. 

Dr Salami has published extensively in the field of financial regulation in emerging economies and financial technology (FinTech) regulation. Her publications include numerous articles in internationally refereed journals and a book: Financial Regulation in Africa: An Assessment of Financial Integration Arrangements in African Emerging and Frontier Markets (Ashgate, 2012). She is currently working on her second monograph on Financial Technology Regulation in Africa, to be published by Routledge in 2022.

 Iwa holds an LLB from University of Westminster, an LLM from King's College, University of London and a PhD from Queen Mary, University of London.

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External roles

  • Governing Council Member / Trustee, The British Institute in Eastern Africa (BIEA)
  • External Examiner, LLM International Commercial Law Programmes, University of Reading
  • Consultant / Alternate Lead of the Policy Advisory Group, Esher and Makarios Legal Practitioners

PUBLICATIONS

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Most recent publications

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Portfolio

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Conferences

  • Dr. Iwa Salami, to speak at the Point Zero Forum on Innovations in Digital Finance: An invite-only conference, Zurich, Switzerland 21 - 23 June 2022, forthcoming..
  •  Dr. Iwa Salami hosted the first UEL Centre of FinTech Roundtable event on 'FinTech and Fraud' on 25 February 2022.
  • Dr. Iwa Salami delivered the Keynote speech on the 'Future of Finance in Africa' on 24 February 2022 at the African Digital Finance Summit 2022.
  • I Salami, Speaker, 'Regulatory priorities for Decentralised Finance' at the African Digital Finance Summit, Nairobi, Kenya, 18-19 February 2021.
  • I Salami, Speaker on 'Digital Transformation and Finance During the Covid-19 Crisis and Regulatory Dimensions' at the UEL Research is Open 2020 Virtual Conference, 31 July 2020.
  • I Salami, Chair of the 'Regulatory priorities for Fintech - emerging technologies, compliance and consumer protection' at the Fintech in the UK Westminster Business Forum (virtual) policy conference, 2 April 2020.
  • I Salami, Panellist, 'Cross-border Developments in Digital Assets and Implications for the UK' at the Fintech in the UK Westminster Business Forum (virtual) policy conference, 2 April 2020.
  • I Salami, Panellist, 'The Future of the FinTech Sector' at the Women in FinTech Summit, organised by Re-Work, London, 31 March 2020 (cancelled).
  • I Salami, 'Future of cryptocurrency, blockchain and its role in an increasingly digital society' Special Parliamentary Debate at the Houses of Parliament, Westminster, London, organised by Parliament Street Think Tank, 24 March 2020 (cancelled).
  • I Salami, 'Cryptocurrency Regulation: Balanced Regulation Needed' at the FinTechTalents Festival, PrintWorks London, 17 November 2019.
  • I Salami, Panellist on, 'Cryptocurrency and Blockchain: Where Next?' Parliamentary Debate at the Houses of Parliament, Westminster, London, organised by Parliament Street Think Tank, 27 March 2019.
  • I Salami, Discussant on 'FinTech in East Africa: From Local Incubator to Pan-African Hub' at Stephenson Harwood, London, organised by the British Institute in Eastern Africa, sponsored by the British Academy, 28 November 2018.
  • I Salami, Panellist on, 'Rights Based Approach to Doing Business for Sustainable Development in Sierra Leone' at the 73rd United Nations General Assembly side event, New York, sponsored by UNDP and LexisNexis, 27 September 2018.
  • I Salami, Speaker on 'Regulating Cryptocurrencies' at the UEL 2018 Research & Knowledge Exchange Conference on Global Challenges, University of East London, Docklands, 28 June 2018.
  • I Salami, Speaker on 'Energy Finance and Investments in Africa' at CCLS - UNIDROIT Development Finance in Emerging Markets Conference at the Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford, 14 April 2018.
  • I Salami, Speaker on 'African Continental Free Trade Agreement and the Role of Law' at the African Studies Seminar Series at the UCL Institute of Advanced Studies, UCL, London, 21 March 2018.
  • I Salami, Chair at Centre for the Study of States, Markets & People, School of Business & Law, University of East London Annual Research Colloquium on 'Neoliberalism and Ordoliberalism: One or Two Critiques?' at UEL London, 8 December 2017.
  • I Salami, Chair at British Academy Lecture on 'The Moral Economy of Elections in Africa' at the British Academy, London, 13 June 2017.
  • I Salami, Speaker on 'FinTech Regulation in Africa: The Case of Mobile Payments and Cryptocurrencies' at the Fifth Biennial Global Conference of the Society of International Economic Law (SIEL) at the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg from 7-9 July 2016.
  • I Salami, Panel Chair on 'Bankable Power and Infrastructure Projects in Africa' at The Global African Investment Summit at Central Hall, Westminster, London, 1 - 2 December 2015.
  • I Salami, Session Chair on 'Accounting Profession and Regulation' at the 5th African Accounting and Finance Association Conference hosted by the University of Mauritius, Mauritius 1 - 4 September 2015.
  • I Salami, Speaker at the 5th African Accounting and Finance Association Conference on 'A Regional Approach to Regulating African Cross-border Banks' hosted by the University of Mauritius, Mauritius 1 - 4 September 2015.
  • I Salami, Speaker at Chatham House London on 'UK Africa Policy, the Prosperity Agenda and the 'Golden Thread': Between Idealism and Pragmatism?' 23 March 2015

TEACHING

Programmes:

  • LLB
  • LLM
  • MPhil/PhD


Undergraduate teaching:

  • Banking Law (LLB)
  • Commercial Law (LLB)
  • Constitutional Law (LLB)
  • Contract Law (LLB)
  • European Union Law (LLB)


Postgraduate teaching:

  • Law of International Finance (LLM)
  • Regulation of Financial Markets (LLM)
  • Law of the World Trade Organisation (LLM)
  • International Law Problems and Process (LLM)
  • FinTech Regulation (LLM)

PhD Supervision:

  • Noud Alowaymir (2021): Combating Terrorism Financing in Saudi Arabia
  • Clinton Osemwengie (2023): Regulation of Cryptocurrencies in Africa