AI Digital Economy, America First Investment Policy, and the New US Sovereign Investment Fund:
How Cross-border Transaction Regulations Evolve
Date: Thursday, April 3rd, 2025
Time: 3:35-4:35 pm
Room: Vanderbilt Hall 206
About the event:
In February President Trump signed an executive contemplating formation of a sovereign wealth fund (SWF) for America, and also issued a national security presidential memorandum titled “The America First Investment Policy.” These major initiatives reflect two important trends of global deal-making: First, the public investment funds of numerous nations, as a major source of strategic capital, are becoming a dominant force in cross-border investments; Second, global markets have entered a period of heightened geopolitical economic tension and uncertainty, especially for investments in the AI digital economy. With the TikTok drama in the backdrop (Trump suggested the proposed US sovereign wealth fund might buy TikTok to satisfy the “sell or ban” bill requirements), we observe tightened cross-regulations, high profile legal battles, and even geopolitical tensions. Is this the new normal of global capital markets?
Related Reading: A U.S. SWF: The Perfect Platform for a TikTok Deal?
This event is convened by Professor Robert Howse, the U.S.-Asia Law Institute, Asia Law Society, Intellectual Property and Entertainment Law Society, Law & Business Association, and Graduate Finance Association at NYU Stern Business School.
About the speakers:
Rafal Gawlowski, global co-chair of Latham & Watkins’ Financial Institutions Industry Group, is a member of the firm’s Corporate Department and Capital Markets, Derivatives, and Structured Finance Practices. His transactions most prominently include derivatives products relating to equity-linked capital markets transactions (call spread overlays), structured repurchase transactions (accelerated forward and forward issuer repurchases), issuer forward issuance transactions, various monetization and hedging transactions, and derivative financing transactions, among others.
Mr. Gawlowski represents major financial institutions, including Citi, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley, Bank of America, and UBS, as well as publicly traded companies. In addition to derivatives, he has practiced in the areas of cross-border corporate finance, private equity, structured finance, investment management, and banking, both in New York and in London.
Winston Ma, CFA & Esq., is an investor, attorney, author, and adjunct professor in the global AI-digital economy. He is a partner of Dragon Global, an AI-focused family office (founding member: Dragon.AI), and he is also an adjunct professor (on sovereign investors) and executive director of the Global Public Investment Funds Forum at NYU School of Law. He has been a member of the NYU President's Global Council since its inception.
Mr. Ma was managing director and head of the North America Office for China Investment Corporation (CIC), China’s sovereign wealth fund, for ten years. Prior to that, he was deputy head of equity capital markets at Barclays Capital, a vice president at J.P. Morgan investment banking, and a corporate lawyer at Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP. He is one of a small number of native Chinese who have worked as investment professionals and capital markets attorneys in both the United States and China.
A nationally certified software programmer as early as 1994, Mr. Ma is the author of more than ten books on sovereign wealth funds, the digital economy, and global geopolitics, including The Hunt for Unicorns: How Sovereign Funds are Reshaping Investment in the Digital Economy. He has frequently been interviewed by CNBC and Bloomberg TV and quoted by major financial media including the Wall Street Journal, Reuters, and Financial Times. He was selected a 2013 Young Global Leader at the World Economic Forum and in 2014 he received the NYU Distinguished Alumni Award.