About Charles Wakiwaka

Leveraging strong technical skills and sharp business insight, Charles Wakiwaka guides clients across the London and broader European markets through sophisticated derivatives and complex financing structures, including bespoke collateral and insurance arrangements.

A sophisticated approach to derivatives and structured finance

With deep experience across the derivatives and structured finance landscape, Charles advises buy-side and sell-side market participants on cash and synthetic transactions spanning numerous asset classes, including fixed income, equities, credit and commodities. His work includes finance-linked hedging, deal‑contingent instruments, fund syndication and structured notes, and his practice also extends across repackaging transactions, credit-linked deposits, bespoke fund investments and related collateral or insurance arrangements.

Charles's perspective is further enriched by his prior secondment with Goldman Sachs, where he provided senior‑level support to multiple trading desks, an experience that continues to add meaningful value to client relationships. His client base includes investment banks, insurance and reinsurance companies, issuers and investors in funds and other structured products, all of whom rely on his ability to navigate intricate matters ranging from securitization structures and structured note programs to margin loans, equity derivatives, collateral arrangements and regulatory compliance initiatives.

Practice Focus

  • Derivatives and structured finance, including finance-linked hedging and deal-contingent transactions
  • Cash and synthetic transactions across major asset classes, including fixed income, equities, credit and commodities
  • Complex structured products, including structured notes, credit-linked deposits, repackaging transactions and bespoke fund investments
  • Equity derivatives, margin loans and collateralised financing structures
  • Securitisation structures, structured note programmes and fund syndication arrangements
  • Collateral, insurance and reinsurance arrangements for structured finance and intermediation transactions

Representative Experience

  • Represented a consortium of investment banks in structuring a deal contingent hedging in relation to $12 billion debt financing for the 49% acquisition of a national oil and energy corporation's pipelines. *
  • Represented several leading investment banks in structuring deal contingent hedging in both M&A and project finance, and related syndication to hedge funds and inter-dealer trades. *
  • Represented originators and hedge providers on various securitization structures including RMBS, CMBS, master trust and whole business securitizations. *
  • Represented issuers on the establishment and update of structured note programmes and advised both issuers and investors in relation to numerous issuances and listings of structured notes, including equity-linked notes, credit-linked notes and bespoke rates issuances. *
  • Represented the arranger on the structuring and repackaging of a partial guarantee of Ecuador's social bond, the first-ever sovereign social bond, which provides affordable housing for medium to low-income families. *
  • Represented a consortium of investment banks on a margin loan structured as funded equity derivatives over a basket of listed shares in Spain. *
  • Represented a major investment bank on funded collar transactions over listed shares in South Africa. *
  • Represented a major insurance company on collateral arrangements for intermediation and pass-through structures in relation to a large longevity insurance project. *
  • Represented a major investment bank on structured repo transactions referencing Japanese government bonds, and GMSLA netting opinion for Korean and Taiwan product annexes. *
  • Represented a major insurance broker on structured fund investments by reinsurers and related collateral and retrocession arrangements. *
  • Represented a global trade finance technology firm on the establishment of a funding programme for the origination and distribution of trade receivables. *
  • Advising on various equity and index-linked products, including a synthetic ETF fully funded swap arrangement, sub-participation and security arrangements, and CPPI trades referencing a proprietary index as the premium asset. *
  • Advising on various credit-linked deposit arrangements, including self-referencing reciprocal or cross-deposit extinguisher arrangements. *
  • Advising on various commodities-linked arrangements, including asset-backed metals programmes for both issuer and FX/repo counterparties, and off-taker oil price hedging. *
  • Advising major financial institutions on various regulatory projects and industry-wide initiatives, including EMIR compliance, Brexit and IBOR transition. *
* Experience prior to Katten
Practices
Industries
Education
  • University of Cambridge, MA
  • College of Law, London, LPC
  • BPP Law School, London, GDL
Bar Admissions
  • England and Wales
Professional & Community Involvement
  • International Swaps and Derivatives Association, Inc.
Recognitions
Recognized or listed in the following:
  • The Legal 500 United Kingdom
    Finance: Derivatives and Structured Products, Recommended Attorney, 2024–2026
Award Methodologies