ANTHONY ETCHELLS

PARTNER

LONDON

SPECIALISES IN:

Information Security & Data Protection
Third Party Due Diligence
Business Intelligence
Artificial Intelligence

REGIONAL EXPERTISE:

Middle East & North Africa
UK & Ireland

PRIOR EXPERIENCE:

Aon, 2016-2018
Stroz Friedberg, 2013-2018
Billiter, 2012-2013

EDUCATION:

Durham University
University of Manchester

LANGUAGES:

Arabic

Ant is a Wallbrook Partner in our London office, and until 2022 our Chief Operating Officer. He now leads our digital assets and technology practices, working closely with early-stage investors operating across these areas. He works closely with clients to help them assess potential regulatory and reputational risks surrounding investment targets and partners – particularly in the context of rapidly-evolving regulatory frameworks covering international investment in advanced technologies, crypto and DeFi innovations, and data and information security.

Ant was Wallbrook’s founding COO. Having developed specialised expertise on privacy issues within due diligence – he led DDSR’s GDPR assessment ahead of implementation in May 2018 – and technological developments in our sector, he was responsible for coordinating Wallbrook’s regional operations and practice areas, and designing and implementing our own information security, data protection and privacy, and technology programs. He led the firm through its successful ISO27001 certification in early 2020.

Ant started his career at Billiter, a due diligence and investigations firm, in 2012. He worked closely from the outset on regulatory and reputational diligence for major financial institutions, with a particular focus on their technology interests and how technology was evolving in the diligence space. After the Billiter team was acquired by Stroz Friedberg in 2013, and became its Due Diligence and Strategic Research (DDSR) unit, Ant went on to oversee DDSR’s global open-source intelligence practice. He managed relationships with multinational asset managers, banks, corporates, and law firms, running teams producing thousands of anti-money laundering, anti-corruption and reputational screens for them per year. Latterly he worked with senior compliance executives, helping them meet their regulatory and programmatic responsibilities. An Arabist by training, having studied in the UK and Syria, he also contributed to Middle Eastern investigations, ranging from quick turnaround red flag screening through to sensitive cross-border deep dives.

Ant holds a bachelor’s in Arabic and Middle Eastern Studies from the University of Durham, and a master’s in International Relations from the University of Manchester. He speaks Arabic.