Scientia Professor Ross Buckley
My current research focus is the Future of Money, FinTech, and the Consumer Data Right. The Future of Money focus includes stablecoins, central bank digital currencies, and tokenized bank deposits.听My Australian Research Council Laureate Fellowship, 2020 - 2027, is a $3.7 million project that explores how Australia might best regulate the rise of FinTech. See the for all of the Project's diverse research outputs.听
This research has been impactful. My research is currently the seventh most frequently downloaded legal research of all time from the Social Science Research Network (SSRN), with over 270,000 downloads. I am the only non-American among the top 10 most downloaded researchers of all time on SSRN, and am the most cited Australian legal scholar on Google Scholar with over 15,000 citations to my work as at year-end 2025.
In the past decade, with my two colleagues, Prof Douglas Arner of Cambridge and Hong Kong, and Dirk Zetzsche of Luxembourg, we have worked directly with governments and regulators in 62 nations, and with a further 40 international and regional organisations.听 Lists of the nations and organisations and subject matter of what we've done can be found at the听.
Previously, I led two major sequential projects on the delivery of financial services over mobile devices听in developing countries. I led a team of three to four researchers on these听projects, funded by a large ARC Linkage grant in conjunction with, and generously supported by, the United Nations Capital Development Fund.听
I joined the Faculty in January 2007, and was appointed a Scientia Professor, and to the King & Wood Mallesons Chair in International Finance Law, in 2013. This research sponsorship was expanded with KPMG Law, from 2018 until 2023.
I began my career practising banking and finance law in Australia and Hong Kong, and on Wall Street with Davis Polk, in total for some nine years.
Areas of expertise
FinTech, RegTech, cryptocurrencies, central bank digital currencies, digital assets generally, consumer data right, and digital financial services.
Professional Memberships and Affiliations
Member, Payments System Board, Reserve Bank of Australia.
Chair, Digital Finance Advisory Panel, Australian Securities & Investments Commission (ASIC)
Member, Consultative Panel, ASIC.
Member, Public Private Markets Advisory Group, ASIC.听
Member, Simplification Consultative Group, ASIC.听
Founding Series Editor, Global Trade Law Series, Kluwer Law International, The Hague.
Series Co-editor, Kluwer's International Banking and Finance Law Series.
Research Supervision
If you are interested in working with me, you should be fascinated by the future of money.听
I may have openings for two doctoral candidates with outstanding academic results in law to work in this field, starting mid-2026 and early 2027, supported by scholarships under the Laureate Project.听 I have previously supervised 13 doctoral candidates to successful completion.
Post-doctoral Fellowship Opportunities
There are no current post-doctoral research fellow opportunities on the Laureate Project. All openings are filled. Fellows who were on this or my earlier major research projects now serve as a Professor at Durham, Associate Professors at 91色情片 (2) and Monash, and on the faculties of Boston University, Leiden University, and Chinese University of Hong Kong.
- Publications
- Media
- Grants
- Awards
- Research Activities
- Engagement
- Teaching and Supervision
鈥淭he Financial Data Revolution: Seizing the Benefits, Controlling the Risks鈥, Australian Laureate Fellowship, FL200100007, sole CI, ($2,634,900), 2020-2025.
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鈥Balancing the Opportunities and Risks of Financial Technology: FinTech Regulation and Policy鈥, Hong Kong Research Grants Council Research Impact Fund Grant, CI: DW Arner, PIs: RP Buckley, S Yiu, DA Zetzsche, (HK$ 4,200,000, about US$540,000), 2019-2023.
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鈥淔intech and Regtech: Building a resilient, inclusive and competitive legal and regulatory framework for 21st century finance in Qatar鈥, Qatar National Research Fund National Priorities Research Program Grant, LPI: A Dahdal, PIs: RP Buckley, DW Arner, G Walker & J Truby, (US$579,794) 2019-2022
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鈥A Comparative Analysis of Policy Approaches to Encourage FinTech鈥, CPA Global Research Perspectives Program grant, CIs: RP Buckley & A Didenko, ($57,770), 2019.
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鈥淲hen Regimes Clash on Capital Controls: Managing the Conflicting Norms and Standards of the IMF, WTO and International Investment Agreements鈥, Hong Kong Research Grants Council Grant, CI: B Mercurio, PIs: RP Buckley, J Seade & J Kurtz, (HK$ 605,824 /A$100,000), 2017-2018.
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鈥淩egulating a Revolution: A New Regulatory Model for Digital Finance鈥, Australian Research Council (ARC) Linkage Grant (LP150100269), lead CI with CB Picker and DW Arner, ($1,072,852 (including partner cash contribution)), 2015-19.
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鈥淭he Regulation of Stored Value Payment and Remittance Systems in Australia鈥, Centre for International Finance and Regulation (CIFR) grant (T025), lead CI with DW Arner, ($151,944), 2015.
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ARC Linkage Infrastructure Grant (LE140100011) for the international law library for WorldLii, one of many co-CIs on a grant led by A Mowbray & G Greenleaf, ($284,000), 2014.
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鈥淭he Regulation of Mobile Financial Services鈥, CIFR grant (E226), sole CI, ($445,000), 2013-2015.
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鈥Systemic Responses to Global Financial Instability: New Thinking and Measures by Which Australia Can Address the Challenges of Globalised Capital鈥, Discovery Senior Outstanding Researcher Award (an ARC Professorial Fellowship) and ARC Discovery Grant, ($675,000), 2013-2015.
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鈥淚dentifying, Monitoring and Managing Systemic Risks in Australia鈥檚 Superannuation System鈥, CIFR grant (E033), S Donald, H Bateman, RP Buckley and K Liu, ($200,800), 2013 鈥2015.
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Hong Kong Research Grants Council Theme-based Research Scheme for 鈥淓nhancing Hong Kong鈥檚 Future as a Leading International Financial Centre鈥, Co-investigator in a 25-member team of which the lead investigator is DW Arner, (HK$ 15.36 million / US$ 1.95 million), 2012-2017.
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鈥Innovative Initiatives for Regulating Global Capital鈥, CIFR grant (E135), lead CI with D Arner and E Avgouleas, ($77,340), 2012-2013.
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鈥Regulatory Responses to the Global Financial Crisis: An Australian Perspective鈥, ARC Discovery Grant, lead CI, ($170,000), 2010-2012.
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鈥淒ebt-for-Development Exchanges as a Means of Enhancing Regional Security鈥, ARC Discovery Grant, sole CI, ($165,000), 2008-2010.
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Fulbright Senior Scholarship (three months at the Global Capital Markets Centre at Duke University), 2011.
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Bond University Oxford Scholarship, awarded to fund a Visiting Fellowship to the Summer Research Institute, Harris & Manchester College, Oxford.
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Coral Sea Scholarship awarded by the Fulbright Commission, Yale Law School.
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Australian Banking Law Association Research Competition, First Prize for the paper 鈥淭he 1993 Revision of the Uniform Customs and Practice for Documentary Credits鈥.
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Since 2015, my principal international engagement has come through working with my usual co-authors and good friends, Professors Douglas Arner of Cambridge, Hong Kong and Queen Mary, and Dirk Zetzsche of Luxembourg. Together we have worked directly with governments and regulators in 62 nations; and indirectly with over 50 further nations through the Alliance for Financial Inclusion (an alliance of central banks and regulators from over 80 nations), the German Agency for International Cooperation and the Arab Monetary Fund. We have also directly advised and assisted some 40 international and regional organisations. Details of every nation and organisation assisted can be found on the听.听 As a result our research findings are now reflected in the laws and regulations of many nations.听
In Australia, I serve on the Payments System Board of the Reserve Bank, Chair the Digital Finance Advisory Panel of ASIC and serve on three other advisory panels for ASIC, and from time to time advise Treasury.听
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Memberships
Member, Payments System Board, Reserve Bank of Australia.听
Fellow, Academy of Social Sciences of Australia (FASSA).
Fellow, Australian Academy of Law (FAAL).
Chair, Digital Finance Advisory Panel, Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC).
Member of ASIC's Consultative Panel,听Public and Private Markets Advisory Group, and Simplification Consultative Group.
Member, FinTech Research Centre Advisory Board, National Chengchi University, Taiwan.
Series Co-Editor, Global Trade Law Series, Wolters Kluwer, The Hague.
Series Co-editor, International Banking and Finance Law Series, Wolters Kluwer, The Hague.
Fellow & Advisory Board Member, Asian Institute of International Financial Law, University of Hong Kong.
My Research Supervision
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One candidate on India's digital identity system and another on the multi-lateral governance of central bank digital currencies.听听