WELCOME
"About me: A snap shot of who I am and what I'm doing..."
Albert Agius
Welcome to my website. This page is intended to provide an insight into my background, interests and experience. It also acts as a digital CV of some sort and a platform to house all of my social media links to allow my contacts to get in touch.
My biggest project at the moment is my family. As a daddy and husband, most of my time goes towards them and I wouldn't have it any other way.
Other than family time and walks, I also indulge in the occasional Netflix binge and other cultural exploits. I really hope you enjoy the site...and please, do get in touch!
LANGUAGES I SPEAK
"...أهلا وسهلا...Hello!...Bonjour!...Hola!...!"
Arabic
Elementary proficiency
English
Native and professional proficiency
French
Duolingo Stage 14
Spanish
Native and professional proficiency
MY EDUCATION
"Where I commenced my professional formation..."
Undergraduate - Law LLB
- Year 1: Land Law | Public Law | Contract Law | Legal Institutions & Method |
- Year 2: Criminal Law | Principles of Tort | Equity | EU Law |
- Year 3: Company Law | Family Law | Spanish Module | Terrorism & Counter Terrorism Law | Religion & the Law | Medicine & the Law |
Postgraduate - Bar Vocational Course (BVC)
- Course: Vocational training providing the skills, developed through practical sessions, required to qualify as a Barrister in England & Wales.
- Skills: Advocacy | Drafting | Opinion Writing | Conference Skills | Resolution of Disputes | Evidence | Criminal Litigation and Civil Litigation | Family Practice | Criminal Practice |
Call to the Bar of England & Wales
- Attendance at 12 compulsory Qualifying Sessions at the Middle Temple during a 12 month period to be eligible for the call to the Bar of England & Wales
- The Qualifying Sessions: Collegiate Events | Advocacy Weekends | Education Days | Dinners | Debates | Lectures & Presentations |
- I was called to the Bar of England & Wales at the Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, London, England in 2010
Arabic Beginners Courses
- Beginners Course 1 - 10 weeks (20 hours) introducing basic grammatical forms and essential frequent vocabulary as well as the basics of Arabic script.
- Beginners Course 2 - 10 weeks (20 hours) extending conversational and grammar skills.
FutureLearn Online Course: Cultural Studies & Modern Languages
- 4 week online course exploring the culture, language and national identity of eight countries through their books, images, slogans and monuments.
Slogans: Franco Basaglia’s La libertà è Terapeutica | Dolores Ibárruri’s ¡No pasarán! | Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels’s Proletarier aller Länder, vereinigt euch! |
- Books: Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables | Dante’s Inferno | Ladislav Fuks’s The Cremator |
- Monuments: The Holocaust Memorial | The Obelisk of Luxor | The Bronze Horseman |
- Images: Bouabdellah’s video artwork ‘Belly Dancing to the Marseillaise: French Identity in Video Art’ | Shepherd’s map of the Habsburg Empire | The Quauhquechollan’s cloth painting |
FutureLearn Online Course: The Lottery of Birth
- 4 week online course exploring both the big picture of the ‘lottery of birth’ and the smaller, human stories.
- It examined the inequalities of birth, particularly being born rich or poor and being born female or male. as well as the lottery of birth as it relates to becoming a parent.
- A variety of disciplines were used such as demography, health studies, sociology, comparative social policy, history, political science and economics. The interdisciplinary nature brought different perspectives together to create fresh insights, providing a bridge for different ideas to feed into social and political change.
- It considered how individual countries and global organisations are responding to demographic changes and predictions and how this plays out in the lives of individual women and men in different parts of the world.
Why the European Union? A Brief History of European Integration
- 6 week online course exploring how and why the nations of the European Union cooperate.
It explored the on-going European crises that have led to a state of confusion about the politics and purpose of the European Union (EU).
The addressed the lack of proper knowledge about the origins, evolving nature and purpose of European integration which is, to a large extent, responsible for many present-day EU problems.
This course helped answer many common questions about the EU by exploring the history of the EU, explaining how the set of institutions that form the EU emerged, and examining how the purpose of European integration has changed since the creation of the European Coal and Steel Community.
- European integration as we know it is the result of a historical process which is not straightforward and often not rational or logical. The European Union — or the Eurozone — was not based on a specific economic rationale or political theory, but is the result of many governments’ actions in the face of diverse situations. This course taught me how to analyse the complexity of the current European Union and explore what it could look like in the future.
Understanding the GDPR
4 week online course on the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and what it means for data subject, controllers and processors.
From an organisational point of view, the course taught the first steps in becoming compliant with the GDPR. It also explored data subjects' rights, data controllers' and processors' obligations and enforcement and compliance notions in the context of the regulation.
Other topics that were covered include general principles and basic concepts of the GDPR, key actos under the GDPR and their role, enforcement and compliance mechanisms and the liabilities and sactions that can be imposed for breach or non-compliance.
The course helped me Identify the main positions of the GDPR, including key concepts, principles and data protection roles; explore rights of data subjects and their relevance in daily life; investigate obligations of data controllers and processors and related steps that need to be taken for complying with the GDPR; and evaluate enforcement and compliance mechanisms and international data transfers under the GDPR.
How Computers Work: Demystifying Computation
4 week online course on the the fundamentals of computing: computer architecture, binary logic, data processing, circuits & more.
The course taught how computers work at a fundamental level. It explored system architecture, along with how computers use binary and logic.
We examined the Von Neumann model of computer architecture and the Fetch-Execute cycle to build a range of simple circuits for maths and simulate various logic gates.
The course helped me obtain an understanding of the processes that underpin every modern computer - from supercomputers to smartphones, and everything in between.
MY PROFESSION & INVOLVEMENTS
"Fortes fortuna adiuvat"
Associate: Property & Financial Services
Term: October 2010 - November 2018
- Property Practice: Conveyancing | Real Estate Financing | Landlord & Tenant | Private & Commercial Real Estate | Development, Construction & Planning | Advising on Private Lettings | Real Estate Contract Drafting |
- Financial Services Practice: Financial Services Regulatory Advice | E-Money | Banking | License Applications to the FSC | AML & CFT Advice | Financial Services Contract Drafting | Legislative Drafting & Transposition of EU Directives | Legal Opinions for Gibraltar registered Companies |
- Assistances: "A Guide to insurance: Combining Governance, Compliance and Regulations" and "Tax Arbitrage: The Trawling of The International Tax System" by Nigel Feetham.
- News: Gibraltar Hosts First Seminar on Digital Currencies
Secondee: Legislative Reform Programme
Term: January 2015 - July 2015
- 6 month secondment (Jan' 15 - July 15') with HM Government of Gibraltar's Finance Centre Department and the Gibraltar Financial Services Commission
- Legislative Reform Programme: A joint initiative by HM Government of Gibraltar and the Gibraltar Financial Services Commission to deliver a streamlined legislative and regulatory framework for financial and professional services in Gibraltar
- Role: Legal drafter
- News: FSC LRP Page | Joint Paper | Government Press Release | Press Release |
Secondee: Strategy & Planning
Term: October 2015 - August 2016
- An 11 month secondment (Oct 15' - Aug 16') with the Gibraltar Financial Services Commission
- Strategy & Planning: This section is responsible for the communications, International and Government relations, risk and internal control of the Commission
- Role: Liaising with International Regulators (e.g. FCA, PRA and European Supervisory Authorities) on matters of mutual interest; assisting with the transposition of European Directives; involved with the strategy and policy considerations arising from the directive transposition process and other developments relevant to the commission; assisting the section Director with communications and industry updates as well as attending industry meetings; assisting industry working groups with directive implementation; liaising with central authorities in other countries in relation to the content and subsequent execution of MMoUs.
Founder & Investor
Term: October 2016 - Present
"Our mission was to create an online lending platform that was innovative, competitive and conscientious. This is the result of that vision."
- About: Thryft is an independent consumer credit company based in Gibraltar, offering loans entirely through its online platform Thryft.gi.
- Aim: To offer a modern and entirely digital approach to the process of applying for, and obtaining a loan in Gibraltar.
- Principle: To be accessible to our customers and that also means to be understanding.
General Counsel & Director
Term: December 2018 - Present
Xapo is empowering people around the world to control and protect their money.
- Corporate: Ensuring the corporate governance of Xapo entities is managed effectively and in compliance with local requirements. Supporting and advising teams on general corporate issues such as company secretarial matters, corporate structures and entity management. Providing advice and support on the biggest potential issues in relation to corporate law and corporate governance. Instructing and managing external legal counsel and corporate service providers. Assisting and advising HR on internal policies and procedures as well as drafting these and other staff related documentation like employment and consultancy agreements.
- Commercial: Supporting and advising every team across the business with commercial legal requirements. Reviewing and negotiating complex & strategic customer, partnership and supplier contracts. Focusing on process improvement by iterating our contracting automation and management workflows. Proactively building out and maintaining self-help tools, playbooks and guides for the legal team and for the wider business. Instructing and managing external legal counsel.
- Regulatory: Supporting and advising every team across the business on legal issues relating to the design and roll out of new products and features to ensure we deliver a compliant product. Providing support across the business on regulatory matters and liaising with local regulators on company related matters and applications. Drafting company wide policies and procedures for compliance with applicable laws, regulations, guidelines and industry standards. Keeping up to date with the biggest potential issues in payments, regulatory compliance and fintech.
- Relevant Legislation: PSDII, E-Money, PAD, CRDIV, EBA Guidelines, BRRD, Consumer Credit.
WHAT KEEPS ME TICKING
"talk to me about...law, business, tech, geopolitics..."
Business & Finance
Mission:
To achieve greater financial education and understanding of the international business community and its activities
- Following: Bloomberg | Insider Monkey | Value Walk | Investopedia | CityAM | CNBC
Crypto & Blockchain Technology
Mission:
To inform myself of the technological, legal and policy developments in this sector
- Following: Coindesk | NewsBTC | Cointelegraph | CCN | Bitcoin Foundation | Coin Center |
Fintech, Technology, VenCap & Startups
Mission:
To inform myself of technology development, especially in finance; startup development and funding stages; and venture capital influencers and their activities
- Following: TechCrunch | Finextra | Crunch Base | Future Fifty | Future Fifty | Y Cominator | Engadget |
Food, Culture & Travel
Mission:
To experience as many countries, cultures and types of cuisine as possible, for a greater appreciation of the world and its variety
- Following: Travel Channel | Food & Travel | Timeout | Tripadvisor | Food & Drink |
Law, World Affairs & Geopolitics
Mission:
To develop my legal knowledge through research; to keep up to date with current affairs for a better understanding of the world
- Following: Legal Week | Law Society Gazette | The Lawyer | Daily Reckoning | Hoover Institute | The Atlantic | OZY | Quartz | IICIJ | Project Syndicate | Bloomberg View | Medium |
"TRAVEL GALLERY"
"A rolling stone gathers no moss...check out my instagram: albert.agius"
RECENT ATTENDANCES
R&D and Networking...Conferences and Summits
Crypto Valley Summit
Isle of Man 2014
Pay360
Prepaid International Forum
Gibraltar Literary Festival 2015
Tanjazz Festival 2015
KPMG Gibraltar eSummit 2016
World Blockchain Summit, Bangkok, 2022
Juro Scale Up GC
2023
LET'S MEET!
"I call Gibraltar home, frequent London, Tangiers and Barcelona & I'm always available to connect
- as long as coffee is involved."
