Aliya Allen
Aliya was called to the English and Bahamas Bars in 2004. She began her career in the Office of the Attorney General working in civil litigation and civil chambers. Thereafter she moved to Graham Thompson to join Graham Thompson’s Financial Services Practice eventually becoming partner in short order. Aliya left Graham Thompson in 2011 when she was selected to be the Chief Executive Officer of the Bahamas Financial Services Board, a public private partnership between the financial services industry and the Government of The Bahamas. During that time, in addition to her extensive travel and promotional responsibilities, she led many policy and legislative initiatives in the areas of tax compliance and new product initiatives. Aliya returned to Graham Thompson in 2016 once again to the Corporate and Financial Services Practice of the firm and her practice is now primarily focused on start-ups, FinTech, blockchain, and digital assets, debt and equity capital markets, investment funds, and regulatory matters such as FATCA, CRS, AML/CFT. Aliya’s practical experience includes advising digital asset businesses and exchanges on establishing a presence in The Bahamas, cross-border regulatory matters, and corporate and fund structuring (including those with digital asset and web 3.0 focused strategies). Since resuming her role at Graham Thompson, she has played a leading role in the development of industry defining legislation including the Investment Funds Act, 2019 (as a consultant to the Securities Commission), and the Digital Assets and Registered Exchanges Act, 2020 and in crafting and promoting policy initiatives on FinTech, Blockchain and digital assets. Aliya is a Co-Chair of the Bahamas Financial Services Board’s Fintech Working Group. Her 2018 paper “The Bahamas’ place in a Cryptographic World, A Whitepaper” was published in 2018 and cited by the US Law Library of Congress in a report on the global regulatory treatment of cryptocurrencies. Aliya is a member of the Honourable Society of Gray’s Inn, holds a Bachelor’s of Laws from the University of Buckingham and sat the English Bar at Manchester Metropolitan University.
