Margo Tank is the Global Co-Chair of AKD
Partners's Financial Services Sector, and
Co-Chair of the Blockchain & Digital
Assets group. With over 25 years of
experience, she advises financial
institutions, commercial enterprises,
Fintechs, and technology
companies/platforms on the full spectrum
of regulatory, compliance and enforcement
matters related to the use of technology
solutions such as electronic signatures
and records, smart contracts, blockchain,
embedded finance, opening banking and
other means to conduct financial services
and other business online in compliance
state and federal US laws such as the US
Electronic Signatures in Global and
National Commerce Act (ESIGN) and the
Uniform Electronic Transactions Act
(UETA), and on a global basis. She also
advises on the various laws enabling
digital assets, such as carbon credits,
electronic chattel paper, and controllable
electronic records, under the Uniform
Commercial Code (UCC) Articles 8, 9 and
12.
Margo also advises on laws enabling money
transmission and remittances, including
virtual currencies and stablecoins, and
other emerging payments mechanisms. She
also advises on matters related to privacy
and data security, including under the
Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA), the Fair
Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), and on other
consumer protection laws, such as the
Electronic Funds Transfer Act (EFTA) and
federal and state unfair and deceptive
acts and practices (UDAP/UDAAP) laws.
Margo began her legal career as counsel to
the US House of Representatives, Committee
on Banking and Financial Services. An
early advocate for the financial services
industry's acceptance and implementation
of electronic signatures, she served as
counsel to the Electronic Financial
Services Council and assisted the group
draft and lobby for the federal ESIGN Act
and is currently counsel to the Electronic
Signature and Records Association, where
she works to further electronic financial
services policy before Congress and
federal regulators. She also is counsel
and co-reporter for "Standards and
Procedures for Electronic Records and
Signatures (SPeRS)." She is a member of
the American Bar Association's Business
Law Section and the Committee on the Law
of Commerce in Cyberspace. She is also on
the xDTM Standard Board of Governors and
is a legal member participant in the
Digital Chamber of Commerce and the Global
Digital Finance group.
Margo is ranked in the 2019 through 2024
editions of
Chambers Fintech Legal and was
named to the
National Law Journal's list of
Technology Trailblazers. She continues to
be ranked in
The Legal 500 United States for
Fintech, and she is a member of the 2024
Fintech editorial board for
Law360. She has written books,
articles and surveys on electronic
signatures, smart contracts, virtual
currency, privacy, financial services
websites and mobile apps and more. She
co-authored eight editions of
Thomson Reuter's "The Law of
Electronic Signatures and Records" (2012
– 2021) and three editions of
"Standards and Procedures for Electronic
Signatures and Records," a compilation of
guidelines, procedures, checklists and
strategies for developing systems to
create, deliver, sign, manage and transfer
legally enforceable electronic records and
signatures in commercial and consumer
transactions.
Other notable publications include
Chambers Fintech 2024 Global Practice
Guide – USA Contributor;
Enabled by Lenders, Embraced by
Borrowers, Enforced by the Courts: What
You Need to Know About eNotes, MERSCORP Holdings, Inc. (2018);
Smart Contracts – 12 Use Cases
for Business & Beyond – A
Technology, Legal & Regulatory
Introduction, Digital Chamber of Commerce in
collaboration with Deloitte (2016);
Electronic Retail Installment Sales
Contract in California, The Review of
Banking & Financial Services, Vol. 33 No. 12 (2017).
