Wilbert Luna
Biography
Overview
Wilbert Luna specializes in Technology (e.g., Cloud, Infrastructure as a Service, Banking as a Service, Artificial Intelligence, Crypto, Cybersecurity, Web2.5 and Web3, among others); Financial Regulation and Fintech; Advice to Sovereigns and National Security; Privacy, as well as Anti- Bribery and Corruption.
His unique global practice serves financial institutions, Big Tech companies, as well as sovereigns from the United States, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East, and Eastern Africa. He is an expert in the design of Fintech products (e.g., crypto, payments, and remittances; proprietary, co-branded, or white-labeled).
Wilbert is a key member of the Firm's Sovereigns and Technology Interest Groups. He is also the National Security team member for the Mexico City office.
He has served The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies and the United Nations Environment Programme on a pro bono basis.
Oxford
Experience
Representative transactions include:
Technology
- Regular advisor to a Big Tech company on the impact it could face derived from proposed Artificial Intelligence regulation to be enacted globally.
- Participated in drafting and negotiating a multi-year cloud services agreement on behalf of the Firm's client, a Latin American country, to enhance the provision of public services for more than 6 million people (deal value: USD 300 million). This included drafting national legislation required to enter into this deal.
- Coordinated a team of White & Case attorneys seconded to a multinational high-tech company to assist with multilingual contractual matters in Latin American jurisdictions, including drafting and negotiating non-disclosure agreements, cloud agreements with regulated financial entities, and vendor forms in English, Spanish, and Portuguese.
- Participated in the drafting and negotiation of cloud services agreements for more than USD 350 million.
- Member of the team advising I Squared Capital in the acquisition of KIO Networks, an outstanding data center and technology infrastructure service provider in Mexico and Central America.
Financial Services Regulatory
- Advised on financial integrity compliance to one of the world's largest asset managers.
- Counseled a leading global messaging platform on payments, cryptocurrencies, anti-money laundering, and data privacy.
- For the Mexican branch of a leading multinational bank, advised on the validity of different securities custody agreements across multiple jurisdictions.
- Successfully defended an American fintech company from claims of breaching anti-money laundering regulations, preventing the levy of multi-million dollar fine.
- Represented Mexico as a delegate to the Plenary of the Financial Action Task Force, the global standard-setter for anti-money laundering and counter-financing of terrorism.**
- Represented Mexico as a delegate to the Working Party 10 of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, which drafted the Commentaries to the Common Reporting Standard (CRS), an international instrument aimed to tackle cross-border tax evasion.**
- Advised a leading Spanish insurance company on how its Mexican branch could invest its technical reserves in securities traded in both Luxembourg and Switzerland.**
Sovereigns and National Security
- Counseled the Office of the President of a Latin American country regarding its ambitious legal reform program to foster the development of the nation's economy, including advising on corporate law, banking, fintech, Web3 activities, and public-private partnerships. This involved revising the national Commerce Code to foster economic development and foreign investment.
- Worked with an Eastern European country to develop its strategy to interact with the Financial Action Task Force.
- Advised a Middle Eastern central bank on the country's financial regulatory reform.
- Provided guidance to a development bank of the French government on sovereign guarantees.
- Counselled an African central bank in preparation for the country's mutual evaluation on anti-money laundering and counter-financing of terrorism.
- Contributed to the legal team that successfully defended the former President of Mexico against a USD 50 million claim in the U.S. federal court system (including the Supreme Court of the United States).**
- Collaborated in drafting a USD 1.4 billion take-or-pay agreement in connection with oil, natural gas, and water on behalf of the Mexican State Oil Company.**
- Advice to a former sitting-President of Mexico on the sovereign immunity implications of having the country appearing as plaintiff before U.S. Federal courts in connection with third-parties' breaches of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act.**
Antitrust/Competition
- Assisted client in obtaining antitrust authorization to sell a 168-MW wind farm in Mexico (deal value: $250 million USD).
- Provided successful counsel to a corporate group in a high-profile cartel investigation in the hydrocarbons sector in Mexico.
- Advised FTSE 250 Index-listed technology entity on merger-control in relation to its purchase of an electronic gaming company with in seven countries.**
- Counseled a large agricultural union in Mexico on the initiation of an investigation for abuse of dominant position in the seeds' distribution market.**
- Seconded to the Office of the then-President of the Administrative Council for Economic Defense (Conselho Administrativo de Defesa Econômica), the Brazilian Antitrust Authority, to collaborate in a market abuse investigation in the telecommunications sector.**
Regulatory & Compliance
- In connection with a deferred prosecution agreement (DPA) entered into with authorities in the United States, counseled an oil and gas company on public procurement and anti-bribery issues.
- Provided anti-corruption advice to a Japanese infrastructure developer and a Mexican branch of an American bank.
- Together with parties from the United States and the United Kingdom, advised the Argentinian branch of one of the largest oil and gas companies in the world on the required compliance with anti-bribery and corruption norms to operate in Mexico.**
Data, Privacy & Cybersecurity
- In service to a global energy and commodities company, coordinated a multi-national team of associates responsible for drafting multijurisdictional guidance for processing employees' personal data.
- Counseled a global messaging platform on Mexican data protection regulations.
- Advised on a personal data sharing configuration between the entities of a corporate group that included a retail company and a bank.
- Served as a legal advisor to large financial institutions on cybersecurity incidents.
** Some of the above representations took place prior to joining White & Case, S.C.
Panelist, "International advances and issues recognizing the correlation between corruption and financial crimes." Invited to speak at the 2nd Interdisciplinary Corruption Research Forum, organized by the Interdisciplinary Corruption Research Network and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. Sciences Po (Paris), June 2017.
Panelist, "Practicing International Law in Government." Invited to speak at Harvard Law School. Cambridge, MA, March 2016.
Panelist, "Specific KYC measures for financial inclusion." Invited by the World Bank and the Financial Action Task Force for Latin America to speak at the Workshop for Financial Inclusion and Anti-Money Laundering/Counter-Financing of Terrorism measures. Paraguay, November 2014.
Panelist, "Regulation of tiered banking accounts." Invited by the World Bank to speak at the Peer Learning Workshop on Development of Financial Inclusion Policy and Risk-Based Legal Regulators Frameworks. South Africa, July−August 2014.
Co-author of: University of Oxford, (April 2017), "Secret ballot voting by the National Assembly in motions of no confidence A comparative report prepared for the Council for the Advancement of the South African Constitution." This report was filed as First Amicus Curiae to the Constitutional Court of South Africa in United Democratic Movement (UDM) v Speaker of the National Assembly (CCT 89/17)
Carlos Mainero, Andrés Mosqueira, Wilbert Luna, and Viridiana Alanís. "Mexico: Banking & Finance." The Legal 500
Vicente Corta, Francisco García Naranjo, Teresa Fernández, and Wilbert Luna. "Banking Regulation, Mexico," Chambers and Partners, Editions 2021 and 2022.
Carlos Mainero and Wilbert Luna, "Mexico's Anti-Money Laundering Guide," Editions 2019-2023, Thomson Reuters Regulatory Intelligence.
Featured as a prominent alumnus of the University of Oxford
Mentions by The Legal 500 (2025) for Capital Markets and Technology, Media, and Telecom.
"Rising Star," Euromoney's Expert Guide for Banking and Finance/Financial Services Regulation, 2022
"Key Lawyer" in Antitrust and Competition, The Legal 500 Latin America 2021
"Rising Star," Euromoney's Expert Guide for Antitrust and Competition 2020
Thesis with honors ("The procedure of reference to the OECD in terms of the Code of Liberalization of Capital Movements"). Harvard Law School, 2016
Chevening Scholarship. Foreign and Commonwealth Office of the United Kingdom, 2016
Fulbright Scholarship. US Department of State, 2015
Scholarship granted by the then-Mexican Minister of Finance to attend Harvard, 2015
Outstanding Performance Award. Mexican Ministry of Finance and Public Credit, 2009