Ahmed Butt

Ahmed Butt is a Partner in the Middle East Banking and Finance practice, leading Dentons' Banking Regulation and Financial Institutions Regulatory practice, specializing in Compliance Law. He also has banking transactional expertise and more than 20 years of experience advising on financial services regulatory matters, including new market entry licensing, innovative product regulatory analysis (including fintech), cross-border promotion, and regulatory investigations.

Ahmed focuses primarily on the Saudi Arabia, mainland UAE, DIFC, ADGM, and Qatar markets. Notable matters include advising a global investment bank on a regulatory investigation in Saudi Arabia relating to IPO processes; advising numerous international banks and asset managers on their expansion strategies into Saudi Arabia and licensing processes; advising a Middle East central bank on a legislative enhancement project; and advising a proposed new financial free zone authority on its full suite of financial regulations. He also has extensive experience as lead counsel on banking and finance transactions, including conventional and Islamic finance, and structuring banking products.

He is recognized by The Legal 500 for Financial Services Regulation (UAE) and ranked as a Leading Partner for Banking and Finance in Saudi Arabia (2015‑2023). He is a member of The Law Society of England & Wales.