Nicholas
Colston

Nick is a partner in the Financial Services Regulation group in London. With more than 20 years' legal experience, and over a decade as a partner, Nick combines deep technological knowledge of financial services regulation, with a cutting-edge commercial understanding of how and why those rules matter in practice.

Asset management regulatory expert:

Nick's primary focus is advising investment managers (in the UK, EU and globally) on regulatory issues including MiFID, AIFMD, compliance with the FCA Rules, client documentation, compliance policies and procedures, anti-financial crime requirements and cross-border business. Nick advised a range of EU investment managers on structuring their UK operations post-Brexit.

Nick is leading on implementation projects for alternative fund managers on the revised EU AIFMD 2.

Nick was named as a Thomson Reuters Stand-out Lawyer in 2025.

Sustainable finance and ESG regulation:

Nick has a particular specialism in relation to Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) regulation for asset managers. He has advised extensively on the application of the EU Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR) and EU Taxonomy, and on the UK's TCFD, SDR and anti-greenwashing regimes.

Nick has taken the lead on dozens of sustainability regulation projects for asset managers, and is at the forefront of responding to ESG regulatory change, including with thought leadership, our standardised templates and industry working groups.

Broad regulatory expertise:

More broadly, Nick also advises other asset management firms, investment banks, private banks and brokers on a spectrum of financial services law and regulatory issues. Nick is a member of the core team dedicated to start-up hedge fund work. The team is behind Simmons & Simmons LaunchPlus: US to UK - the firm's online resource for US-based fund managers launching in the UK.