Dr Virág Blazsek

Profile

Prior to entering academia, I practiced banking, finance, and commercial law for a decade in Budapest, Paris, and New York, including positions at OTP Bank Plc, Winston & Strawn LLP, and the Office of Investment Management of the United Nations Joint Staff Pension Fund.

I am currently Associate Professor of Law and Deputy Director of the Centre for Business Law and Practice (CBLP) at the University of Leeds. From 2022 to 2025, I also served as the School of Law’s Study Abroad Programme Coordinator, where I successfully expanded the program, doubled student participation, and established a strategic exchange partnership with Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE Law).

My research focuses on banking law, financial regulation, financial innovation, and crisis management from a comparative and international perspective. I regularly engage with policymakers, practitioners, and the media on issues relating to financial regulation and emerging financial technologies. My monograph, Banking Bailout Law: A Comparative Study of the United States, United Kingdom and the European Union (Routledge, 2020), is held in more than 1,100 libraries worldwide (WorldCat.Org, July 2026).

I have held visiting and research appointments at leading institutions, including Emory University, Columbia University, Fordham University, George Washington University, the European University Institute, Central European University, and ELTE Law. I currently serve as an arbitrator of the OHADA Common Court of Justice and Arbitration, an invited member of the Insolvency Law Academy’s Insolvency Scholars Forum, and a member of UNIDROIT’s Working Group on the Insolvency of Insurance Enterprises (2026-2028). I am also an External Examiner at King’s College London, Co-Convenor of the Banking and Financial Services section of the Society of Legal Scholars, and a member of the International Monetary Fund’s Banking Law Expert Roster.

My work has been recognized through numerous international appointments, fellowships, and invitations. I was twice awarded the Michael Beverley Innovation Fellowship to support research on the FinTech-driven transformation of the financial sector and have been invited to speak at leading academic, professional, and policy forums across North America, Europe, and Asia.

I hold a JD and PhD in Law from Eötvös Loránd University, an SJD and LLM from Central European University as a recipient of a full doctoral fellowship, an LLM in Business and Finance Law from The George Washington University as a Thomas Buergenthal Scholar, and an LLM in U.S. and Global Business Law from Suffolk University. I have also studied at the University of Girona as an Erasmus Scholar and conducted research at Heidelberg University as a DAAD Scholar.

I am fluent in English, Spanish, German, and Hungarian.

My book was reviewed by an international panel of scholars and policymakers hosted by the Mile End Institute in 2021 (recommended playback speed: 1.5x to 2x):

In 2022, I was invited to discuss the book as part of Cornell Law School’s Berger International Speaker Series:

In 2022-24, I received the Michael Beverly Innovation Fellowship twice to research the FinTech-related transformation of the financial sector:

As part of that project, I have also been writing about the energy policy aspects of FinTech and Legal Tech. Check out a podcast I recorded on the topic:

Responsibilities

• Deputy Director, Centre for Business Law and Practice (CBLP)
• Co-Convenor, Banking and Financial Services section (Society of Legal Scholars)
• External Examiner (King’s College London)

Research interests

Financial Regulation

My research focuses on banking law, financial regulation, and financial crisis management, with a particular emphasis on comparative and international perspectives. I examine how legal and regulatory frameworks respond to systemic financial crises, financial innovation, and structural changes in the banking sector. My work has explored the legal responses to the 2008 global financial crisis in the United States and Europe, comparative approaches to bank bailouts and bank resolution, and the interplay between financial regulation, competition law, state aid, and constitutional fiscal constraints. More recently, I have expanded my research to include central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), artificial intelligence, and other emerging technologies that are reshaping financial services.

I seek to bridge legal theory, public policy, and practice by identifying how regulatory frameworks can better promote financial stability while adapting to innovation. My scholarship combines doctrinal, comparative, and interdisciplinary approaches and has frequently drawn on my professional experience in banking, international organizations, and legal practice.

My monograph, Banking Bailout Law: A Comparative Study of the United States, United Kingdom, and the European Union (Routledge, 2020), examines the shortcomings of post-2008 bailout frameworks and offers recommendations for designing more effective crisis-management regimes. Through comparative case studies, the book analyzes the strengths and limitations of different bailout mechanisms and argues for the adoption of clearer ex ante legal frameworks rather than reactive responses during crises.

My broader research agenda includes participation in major comparative law projects, including Security Rights and the European Insolvency Regulation (Intersentia, 2017), and Estate Planning (Közjegyzői Akadémia, 2015). I also contributed a chapter on the institutional frameworks of bank resolution authorities in EU Member States for the Bank of Italy Legal Research Paper Series (2025).

My recent scholarship explores the legal and regulatory implications of technological innovation in finance. Selected publications include A Systematization of Legal-Regulatory Risks Related to Central Bank Digital Currencies: A Comparative Analysis of the United States, the United Kingdom, and China (Law and Financial Markets Review, 2025) and Conservatorship, Quantitative Easing, and Mortgage Spreads: A New Multi-Equation Score-Driven Model of Policy Actions (Studies in Nonlinear Dynamics & Econometrics, 2023), an interdisciplinary study examining the effects of U.S. crisis-response measures on mortgage-backed security markets. My earlier works addressed financial consumer protection, comparative banking regulation, competition law, and state aid in the banking sector.

Beyond research and publication, I actively contribute to academic and policy discussions on financial regulation. I have organized and co-organized several international conferences, including the annual Conference on Financial Law and Regulation and the Future of Business Law Workshop series. I regularly review manuscripts and book proposals for leading publishers and academic journals and have contributed policy-oriented commentary to publications including Emory Law School’s Center for International and Comparative Law (CICL) Conflicts & Capital column, American Banker, INSOL I-Read, Columbia Law School’s Blue Sky Blog, and Duke Law School’s FinReg Blog.

The FinTech-Related Transformation of the Financial Sector

A significant strand of my research examines how financial technologies are transforming financial markets, regulation, and public policy. As a two-time recipient of the Michael Beverley Innovation Fellowship (2022-2024), I led a project focused on strengthening ties between academia, the financial services industry, and policymakers in the Leeds financial and FinTech ecosystem. The project also developed policy recommendations addressing the regulatory implications of technological change in financial services.

My research on digital finance focuses on CBDCs, digital payments, blockchain-based financial systems, and the legal risks associated with emerging financial technologies. In particular, I have examined how regulatory frameworks can respond to the operational, governance, privacy, and financial-stability risks presented by CBDCs while preserving their potential benefits.

I frequently present this research internationally and have spoken at conferences and workshops across Europe, North America, and Asia. I organized the Leeds Financial and FinTech Law Conference 2023, which brought together distinguished scholars, regulators, and industry experts from the United States, the United Kingdom, and Singapore. The conference received recognition from the Oxford Business Law Blog and contributed to ongoing discussions regarding the future regulation of financial innovation.

My engagement with financial technology policy also includes written evidence submitted to the UK Parliament’s Treasury Committee inquiry on Artificial Intelligence in Financial Services (2025).

Legal Tech Regulation

A related area of interest concerns the regulatory and policy implications of artificial intelligence and legal technology. Since 2022, I have been invited to speak at the LegalTech in Leeds conference series for four consecutive years. My presentations have addressed the regulatory implications of technology adoption by law firms, legal-service providers, and financial institutions.

In 2025, I delivered a keynote address on the energy-policy dimensions of LegalTech, an emerging area at the intersection of technology governance, sustainability, and the legal profession. The key themes of that research were subsequently published in the Leeds University Business School Research and Innovation Blog, and I co-hosted a related podcast exploring the technological and economic forces driving LegalTech adoption.

I have also presented research on AI and technology regulation at institutions including City Law School (London), the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies (London), and Taylor’s University (Malaysia). In addition, I submitted formal comments to the Ministry of Law Singapore in response to its 2025 public consultation on the use of generative AI in the legal sector.

Notable Publications and Contributions

• V. Blazsek, In Defense of Bailouts: Why Resolution Frameworks Fail in Systemic Crises, INSOL I-Read (May 2026).

• V. Blazsek, Book Review: Regulation and Regulators After Global Financial Crises by Aleksandra Jordanoska, Soc. & Legal Stud. (2026), 0(0).

• V. Blazsek, The First Real-World Pilot of a Retail CBDC in the European Union, Revisited: Hungary’s Student Safe as a Legal-Political Laboratory, in The Digital Euro: Regulation, Risks, and Challenges (Editorial Aranzadi La Ley 2026) (in Spanish).

• V. Blazsek & V. Belikoff, A Systematization of Legal-Regulatory Risks Related to Central Bank Digital Currencies: A Comparative Analysis of the US, the UK, and China, Law & Fin. Mkts. Rev. 1 (2025).

• V. Blazsek, Bank Resolution in Hungary, in Resolution Authorities and their Institutional Settings in EU Member States, 104 (Raffaele D’Ambrosio & Diane Fromage eds., Bank of Italy 2025).

• V. Blazsek, Written Feedback on Public Consultation on Guide for Using GenAI in the Legal Sector (Ministry of Law Sing. 2025).

• V. Blazsek, Written Evidence on Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Financial Services (U.K. Parliament Treasury Comm. 2025).

• V. Blazsek, The Energy Policy Dimensions of LegalTech, Research & Innovation Blog, Leeds Univ. Bus. Sch. (2025).

• V. Blazsek, Regulators’ Rhetoric About Bank Failures Doesn’t Match Their Actions, Am. Banker (2024).

• V. Blazsek, Sz. Blazsek & A. Kobor, Conservatorship, Quantitative Easing, and Mortgage Spreads: A New Multi-Equation Score-Driven Model of Policy Actions, Stud. Nonlinear Dynamics & Econometrics (2023).

• V. Blazsek, Conference Report: University of Leeds Inaugural Conference on Recent Developments in Insolvency Law (co-editor), Singapore Mgmt. Univ. Yong Pung How Sch. L. Legal Stud. Rsch. Paper Series; Bankr., Reorganization & Creditors eJournal (2022).

• V. Blazsek, Financial Consumer Protection in the U.S. and the E.U.: A Preventive Building Block of Banking Bailout Law, Union Univ. L. Sch. Rev. (2021).

• V. Blazsek, Study on the Adequacy of the Information to be Disclosed Under Article 89(1) of the Capital Requirements Directive IV in the EU for the European Commission (Chapter on USA) (2021) (consultancy report).

• V. Blazsek, A Comparative Comment on the Banking Bailout Literature, FinReg Blog, Duke Univ. Sch. L. (2021).

• V. Blazsek, Banking Bailout Law, Blue Sky Blog, Colum. L. Sch. (2020).

• V. Blazsek, BANKING BAILOUT LAW: A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THE UNITED STATES, UNITED KINGDOM, AND THE EUROPEAN UNION (Routledge, 2020).

• V. Blazsek, The European Aspects of Global Financial Developments, 11 J. Bus. Entrepreneurship & L. 233 (2018).

• V. Blazsek, European Aspects of Global Financial Developments, Létünk Soc. Sci. J. (2016) (Hung.).

• V. Blazsek, A Comparative Analysis of the Bad Asset Management Companies of Spain and Hungary: The Devil is in the Details, Queen Mary L.J. (2016).

• V. Blazsek, Competition Law and State Aid for Failing Banks in the European Union and Its Specific Implications for Central and Eastern European Member States, Yearbook Antitrust & Regul. Stud. (2016).

• V. Blazsek, Sovereign Debt-Ceiling Rules in the Spanish and Hungarian Constitutions and Their Interplay with the Relevant EU Laws, in International Conference on Trade, Business, Economics and Law Proceedings (Oxford Univ. 2015).

• V. Blazsek, THE 2009 INTERCHANGE FEE DECISION OF THE HUNGARIAN COMPETITION AUTHORITY: A COMPARATIVE CASE STUDY (LAP Lambert Publ’g 2011).

Qualifications

• PhD in Law (summa cum laude)
• SJD in International Business Law (summa cum laude)
• LLM in Business and Finance Law
• LLM in U.S. and Global Business Law (High Honors)
• Juris Doctor (cum laude)

Professional memberships

• Hungarian Arbitration Association
• Society of Legal Scholars (Co-Convenor, Banking and Financial Services Law section)
• Higher Education Academy (Fellow)

Student education

I currently teach the following courses:

• International Banking Law: Capital Markets and Loans (Module Leader, 2025-present)
• International Banking Law: The Regulatory Framework (2021-present)
• International Corporate Insolvency Law (2021-present)
• Central Issues in Arbitration (Module Leader, 2023-present)

From 2022 to 2025, I served as Programme Coordinator and Module Leader for the University of Leeds School of Law’s Study Abroad Programme.

Previously, I taught:

• Contract Law I-II (2021-2023)
• Insolvency Law (2021-2023)
• Commercial Law: Commercial and Consumer Sales (2021-2023)

Since 2022, I have served as an External Examiner for five law modules across two online LL.M. programs at King’s College London.

Since joining Leeds, I have supervised numerous undergraduate, master’s, and doctoral dissertations in business law, banking law, and law and finance. I currently supervise three doctoral researchers. As an internal examiner, I have participated in numerous transfer assessments and doctoral vivas and am eligible to serve as an Independent Chair for doctoral examinations. In 2025, I was invited to chair a public Ph.D. defense at the Collegio di Spagna, University of Bologna. I welcome applications from outstanding doctoral candidates interested in business law, banking law, and financial regulation.

My teaching experience also includes invitations to teach on the Fiscal and Financial Federalism in the EU course within the LL.M. in International and European Taxation at Eötvös Loránd University Faculty of Law (2021-2023). Earlier in my career, I held visiting teaching appointments at Central European University, Corvinus University, Budapest Business School, and Hult International Business School.

I am a Fellow of Advance HE (formerly the Higher Education Academy) and hold a Certificate in Excellence in Teaching in Higher Education awarded by Central European University.

Teaching Philosophy

My teaching is grounded in the belief that legal education should prepare students not only to understand the law but also to apply it effectively in professional settings. Before entering academia, I spent a decade practicing banking, finance, and commercial law in Budapest, Paris, and New York. That experience allows me to integrate real-world perspectives into the classroom and help students develop practical skills alongside doctrinal knowledge.

I place particular emphasis on analytical reasoning, problem-solving, professional judgment, and clear communication. Throughout my courses, students are encouraged to engage with legal problems in ways that mirror the challenges faced by lawyers, regulators, judges, and business professionals. My objective is to equip students with the intellectual and professional skills necessary to succeed in a rapidly evolving legal and regulatory environment.

I am particularly interested in innovative and technology-enhanced approaches to teaching. Blended learning techniques allow me to combine the benefits of classroom engagement with the flexibility and personalization offered by digital learning tools. Online platforms can strengthen learning communities, encourage collaboration, and provide students with more individualized support and feedback.

Given the increasingly global and interdisciplinary nature of legal practice, I encourage students to examine legal questions within their broader economic, political, social, and technological contexts. This approach is especially important in fields such as banking law and financial regulation, where legal frameworks are constantly evolving in response to financial innovation, market developments, and regulatory reform. I believe that legal education must remain forward-looking and interdisciplinary in order to prepare students for the changing demands of the legal profession and the broader job market.

My international background has also shaped my teaching philosophy. Having studied, worked, and conducted research in the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, Spain, and Hungary, I bring a comparative perspective to the classroom that enables students to engage critically with different legal traditions and regulatory approaches. Rooted in the continental European legal tradition and informed by interdisciplinary training in economics, taxation, accounting, sociology, philosophy, and psychology, I aim to help students understand law as part of a broader institutional and societal framework. This comparative and interdisciplinary perspective continues to inform both my teaching and my research.

Research groups and institutes

• Centre for Business Law and Practice

Current postgraduate researchers

• Yile Qu
• Theophilus Tawiah
• Jingyi Chen