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Michael Garellek

Michael serves as the head of the Financial Services Regulatory Practice for Canada and is a Transactional Partner in Baker McKenzie's Toronto office. His practice focuses on Canadian financial regulation and compliance for fintechs, financial institutions and financial market participants, online marketplaces, blockchain and web3 devs. Michael has assisted many global companies establish and grow their businesses in Canada. He is a co-author of Baker McKenzie's Doing Business in Canada, the Annotated Bank Act (2025-2023 editions) and the Jurisclasseur en valeurs mobilieres, a long leading treatise on securities laws in Canada. · Baker McKenzie

CanadaFinancial Services Regulatory, FintechEnglish, French

About

Michael Garellek is a Transactional Partner at Baker McKenzie based in Toronto, where he also serves as the head of the Financial Services Regulatory Practice for Canada. He focuses on Canadian financial regulation and compliance for fintechs, financial institutions, financial market participants, online marketplaces, and blockchain/web3 developers. He assists global companies in establishing and growing their businesses in Canada. His transactional and advisory work covers public and private deal types including financing and securitization. He provides regulatory guidance on insurance, banking, AML/FT, privacy, securities, and OTC swaps and derivatives. He is a co-author of Baker McKenzie's 'Doing Business in Canada', the 'Annotated Bank Act' (2025-2023 editions), and the 'Jurisclasseur en valeurs mobilieres'.

Practice areas

Financial Services RegulatoryFintechBankingSecuritiesInsurancePrivacyAnti-Money LaunderingBlockchainDerivativesCorporate LawSecuritization

Office

Expertise

TransactionalAdvisoryRegulatory GuidanceEntity FormationGovernanceFinancingSecuritization

Education

  • University of Montreal (LLB, 2008)
  • McGill University (Diploma in Public Accountancy, 2000)
  • McGill University (B.Comm. - Hons. Accounting and Economics, 1998)

Languages

EnglishFrench