Lai Kooi Thong is Co-head of the Banking & Finance Practice at DFDL’s Phnom Penh office.

Prior to joining DFDL, he was a Partner at a top-tier law firm in Malaysia. He also had a two-year stint leading the Malaysia office of an alternative legal service provider launched by a global law firm, during which he collaborated closely with several international banks and helped build a successful team of about 20 consultants.

His experience includes advising governments and government agencies, commercial and development financial institutions, bond/Sukuk holders, trustees and issuers/borrowers across a variety of industries in financing and lending matters such as bilateral and syndicated facilities, bond/Sukuk issues, trade facilities and derivatives.

He is experienced in Islamic finance and has worked on transactions based on various forms of Shariah structures.

Additionally, he regularly advises on regulatory and compliance matters, including financial institution licensing requirements, financial institution regulations and corporate governance and, more recently, IBOR transition.

He graduated from the University of Reading, U.K. with an LLB (Honours), and holds a postgraduate certificate in Finance & Law from SOAS University of London.

He has been called to both the English Bar and the Malaysian Bar.