Christian 
HOFMANN

 
Associate Professor

Cluster Coordinator (Comparative Civil Law)

Deputy Director, Centre for Banking & Finance Law

Christian Hofmann became part of NUS Law in 2013, where he currently serves as an Associate Professor. He is also the Head of Central Banking and Financial Regulation at the Centre for Banking & Finance Law and the Deputy Director of the Centre for Asian Legal Studies. Before joining NUS, Christian’s career path entailed positions as a Professor at the Private University in the Principality of Liechtenstein and as a Senior Legal Counsel with the German Central Bank. He was also an Acting Professor at Goethe-University Frankfurt and the University of Cologne, a Visiting Scholar and Humboldt Fellow at UC Berkeley, and a Global Research Fellow at NYU School of Law.

FULL BIOGRAPHY

Contact

(65) 6601-3568
BB-02-04A

Education

LLM (Global Business Law) (New York University); LLM (Corporate and Financial Services Law) (NUS); Professorial qualification (Habilitation with venia legendi) (Humboldt University of Berlin); Dr. iur., (Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg); Second State Examination (District Court of the Saarland); First State Examination (University Freiburg)

Curriculum Vitae

Current Courses

Principles of Civil Law: Law of Obligations & Property

Christian Hofmann became part of NUS Law in 2013, where he currently serves as an Associate Professor. He is also the Head of Central Banking and Financial Regulation at the Centre for Banking & Finance Law and the Deputy Director of the Centre for Asian Legal Studies. Before joining NUS, Christian’s career path entailed positions as a Professor at the Private University in the Principality of Liechtenstein and as a Senior Legal Counsel with the German Central Bank. He was also an Acting Professor at Goethe-University Frankfurt and the University of Cologne, a Visiting Scholar and Humboldt Fellow at UC Berkeley, and a Global Research Fellow at NYU School of Law.

Simultaneously with his tenure at NUS, Christian has undertaken visiting positions at other esteemed institutions. These include serving as a Senior Research Fellow at the Commercial Law Centre of Harris Manchester College at Oxford and as a Visiting Professor at the Centre for Transnational Legal Studies in London. More recently, he took up the role of Visiting Scholar at the University of Zürich, while simultaneously contributing his expertise through consultation work for the European Parliament.

Christian’s educational journey encompasses completing legal studies in Germany, passing the German bar exam, obtaining a PhD, and earning his professorial qualification (“Habilitation”) from Humboldt-University in Berlin. Additionally, he holds LL.M. degrees in Global Business Law from NYU and Corporate and Financial Services Law from NUS. His practical experience includes working as a trainee with the European Commission and engagements with various law firms. His research focus primarily centres around banking law, the regulation of financial institutions and markets, the law of money, and central banking.

Book Chapters
Christian Hofmann, 'A New and Unsolved Riddle in Monetary Law: The Complex Case of Central Bank Digital Currency' in Jason Allen and Gerhard Dannemann (eds), FA Mann: The Lawyer and His Legacy (Oxford University Press 2024) 360

Christian Hofmann, 'The Shift from Private Money into “Unlimited” CBDCs: An Unviable Development or a Chance for Reform and New Opportunities?' in Christos V. Gortsos and Rolf Sethe (eds), Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs): Proceedings of a Colloquium ( EIZ Publishing 2023) 33

Christian Hofmann, 'The Advance Effect of Directives' in Karl Riesenhuber (ed), European Legal Methodology (Intersentia Cambridge 2021) 405

Christian Hofmann, 'Central Banks and their Limits in a Pandemic' in Victor V. Ramraj (ed), Covid-19 in Asia: Law and Policy Contexts (Oxford University Press 2021) 97

Christian Hofmann, 'Bank Resolution' in Douglas W. Arner, Wai Yee Wan, Andrew Godwin, Wei Shen and Evan Gibson (eds), Research Handbook on Asian Financial Law (Edward Elgar Publishing 2020) 64

Journal Articles
Christian Hofmann, 'The Impact of a Digital Dollar on Singapore’s Depositors, Banking Sector and Monetary System' (2023) 39 (3) Banking and Finance Law Review 381

Christian Hofmann, 'Which markets need Central Bank Digital Currency?' (2023) 18 (3) Capital Markets Law Journal 281


Christian Hofmann, 'The Role of Deposit Insurance in Bank Resolution' (2020) 6 (1) Journal of Financial Regulation 148

Christian Hofmann, 'Singapore’s Reformed Bank Regulation and Resolution Regimes' (2020) 35 (2) Banking and Finance Law Review 227

Christian Hofmann, 'The Changing Concept of Money: A Threat to the Monetary System or an Opportunity for the Financial Sector?' (2020) 21 (1) European Business Organization Law Review 37

  • Regulation of financial institutions and markets
  • Sovereign debt restructuring
  • Company Law and corporate governance
  • Civil law
  • European Union law