Our Team

Benjamin Geva

Counsel

	Direct: 416.865.7987 Office: Toronto Fax: 416.865.7380 Email: bgeva@torys.com

	Benjamin, who is a member of the Payments and Cards Practice, is a leading international expert on payment and settlement systems.

Practice

Benjamin Geva is a leading international legal expert on payment instruments and methods, bank deposits and collections, credit transactions and facilities, and electronic banking.

Benjamin has advised on and drafted key financial sector legislation, mostly in relation to payment and settlement systems, for the authorities of several countries, particularly, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Haiti, Serbia, Cambodia, Afghanistan, Timor-Leste and Sri Lanka. Working mainly in Canada but also in the United States and in the international arena, he has been on legislative committees and drafting working groups examining and proposing reform to payment, securities transfers and personal property security laws.

Professional Involvement

Benjamin has been a member of the faculty of Osgoode Hall Law School since 1977. He also practised at a major Canadian law firm and worked for the International Monetary Fund. Additionally, he has held these visiting positions: in the United States at the University of Chicago, the University of Illinois, the University of Utah and Northwestern University as well as in the summer program of Duke university in Hong Kong; in Israel at Tel Aviv University; in Australia at Monash, Deakin and Melbourne universities; in Singapore at the National University of Singapore; in Germany at the University of Hamburg; and in France at the faculté de droit et de science politique d'Aix-Marseille. Benjamin has been a visitor at the law faculties of Oxford and Cambridge universities in England and at Max-Planck Institute for Comparative and Private International Law in Hamburg, Germany, as well as a Senior Global Research Fellow at the Hauser Global Visitors Program of New York University School of Law.

He is a member of the Committee on International Monetary Law of the International Law Association (MOCOMILA); Canadian Overseas Editor for the Journal of Banking and Finance: Law and Practice, (Australia); Member of the International Academy of Commercial and Consumer Law; and a member of the Academic Advisory Board and External Professional Fellow of the Asian Institute of International Financial Law of the University of Hong Kong Law Faculty. He was a member of the Regulatory Advisory Group to the Task Force for the Payments System Review, providing advice on regulatory and legal issues related to the payments industry in Canada in 2011.

Selected Publications

Benjamin is the founding editor-in-chief of the Banking and Finance Law Review (BFLR);
and the author of a treatise, The Law of Electronic Funds Transfer, New York: Matthew Bender, 1992 (annually updated); a comparative law text, Bank Collections and Payment Transactions, Oxford: OUP, 2001; and a legal history monograph, The Payment Order of Antiquity and the Middle Ages, Oxford and Portland Oregon: Hart, 2011

Benjamin has written numerous articles and book chapters on payment system issues, including the following:

"Global Payment and Settlement Systems"
In Electronic Encyclopedia for Financial Globalization, section eds. Randall Dodd and Douglas Arner, section 2 | (to be released in 2012 by Elsevier)

Forgery Losses: Banks Beware!
National Banking Law Review, vol. 31, no. 6 | December 2012

Mobile Payments: Is There Anything New Under the Sun?
National Banking Law Review, vol. 31, no. 5 | October 2012

Electronic Deposit of Official Images
National Banking Law Review, vol. 31, no. 5 | October 2012

Is Canada Ready for the Paperless Cheque? An Analysis of the Historical and Practical Implications of Going Paperless
NBLR, vol. 31, pp., 49-53 | August 2012

"The Wireless Wire: Do M-Payments and UNCITRAL Model Law and International Credit Transfers Match?"
BFLR, vol. 27, no. 2, pp. 249-264 | 2012

"Global and Cross-Border Credit Transfers: The Role of Legislation in Addressing Legal Risk for Participants"
in International Monetary and Financial Law in the Light of the Global Crisis, ed. M. Giovanoli and D. Devos, pp. 545-574, Oxford University Press | 2010

"The Harmonization of Payment Services Law in Europe and Uniform and Federal Funds Transfer Legislation in the USA: Which Is a Better Model for Reform?"
European Banking and Financial Law Journal), 2009, no. 4, pp. 699-733. [Earlier version was published in Armonizzazione Europea Dei Servizi di Pagamento e Attuazione della Direttiva, 2007/64/CE, 48 Il Diritto della Banca e della Borsa, Studi e Dibattiti, ed. M.R. Farina, V. Santoro, A.S. Alibrandi and O. Troiano, Milano: Giuffré Editore] | 2009

"Payment Transactions under the EU Payment Services Directive: A U.S. Comparative Perspective"
Penn State International Law Review, vol. 27, no. 3, 713-755 | 2009

"Payment System Modernization and Law Reform in Developing Nations: Lessons from Cambodia and Sri Lanka"
Banking Law Journal, vol. 126, pp. 402-439 | 2009

"TARGET2 Transfer of Funds and Harmonization of EU Payment Law"
Uniform Commercial Code Law Journal, vol. 41, no. 2, pp. 113-145, fall | 2008

"Payment Finality and Discharge in Funds Transfers"
Chicago-Kent Law Review, vol. 83, pp. 633-675 | 2008

"Reimagining E-Money: Its Conceptual Unity with Other Retail Payment Systems"
Current Developments in Monetary and Financial Law, vol. 3, pp. 669-705, co-authored with M. Kianieff | 2005

"The Beneficiary’s Bank and Beneficiary Described by Name and Number: Liability Chain and Liability Standard in Wire Transfers"
Part 1, TSAR (Journal of South African Law), vol. 1, 2004, pp. 1-19; Part 2, TSAR, vol. 2, 2004, pp. 235-257 | 2004

"Legal Aspects Relating to Payment by E-Money: Review of Retail Payment System Fundamentals"
inYearbook of International Financial and Economic Law, 2000-2001, pp. 207-281, ed. JJ. Norton and C. Hadjiemmanuil, London: BIICL | 2003

"Consumer Liability in Unauthorized Electronic Funds Transfers"
Canadian Business Law Journal, vol. 38, pp. 207-281 | 2003

"Promoting Stability in International Finance: Legislative and Regulatory Reform of Payment and Settlement Systems"
in The Reform of the International Financial Architecture, ed. R.M. Lastra, pp. 247-281 (vol. 18 of International Banking, Finance and Economic Law Series), London, Hague, Boston: Kluwer Law International | 2001

"International Funds Transfers: Mechanisms and Laws"
in Cross-Border Electronic Banking: Challenges and Opportunities, 2nd ed., chap. 1, pp. 1-34, ed. C. Reed, I. Walden and L. Edgar, London, Hong Kong: Lloyd's of London Press | 2000

"Unauthorized Electronic Funds Transfers: Comparative Aspects"
paper presented at the 1996 Bar Ilan University 8th Biennial Conference of the International Academy of Commercial and Consumer Law, published in New Developments in International Commercial and Consumer Law, pp. 107-133, ed. J.S. Ziegel, Oxford: Hart | 1998

"Access to the Canadian Payment System"
co-authored with Shameela Chinoy, in The Regulation of Financial Institutions: Issues and Perspectives, papers presented at the Queen’s Annual Business Law Symposium 1996, pp. 411-453, Toronto: Carswell | 1997

Selected Presentations

Mobile Payments in Canada: Emerging Legal Issues
Presenter, OBA – Professional Development in Information Technology & E-Commerce Mobile Computing Part II: Payment Systems, Toronto | September 27, 2012

Dissecting the Task Force Report on the Payments Industry
Speaker, ACT Canada’s Cardware 2012: Payments Insight Conference, Niagara Falls | June 19, 2012

Innovation & Crisis Management: Payment Systems, Payment Laws and Central Banking in the Cross-roads
Lecturer, UNISA College of Law, Pretoria, South Africa | May 22, 2012; and

Presenter, National Payment Department of the Reserve Bank of South Africa, Pretoria, South Africa | May 24, 2012

Interbank Settlement: Mechanism, Risks, and Legal Aspects
Seminar, Norges Bank, Oslo, Norway | May 19, 2011

Systematically important payment systems and financial stability: core principles, oversight, regulation and the evolving role of the central bank
Seminar, Norges Bank, Oslo, Norway | May 19, 2011

UNCITRAL Model Law on International Credit Transfers and M-Payments: Do They Match?
Presenter, UNCITRAL Colloquium on Electronic Commerce, Session II, New York | February 14-16, 2011

M-Payments - Legal and Regulatory Issues
Speaker, Mobile Payments: Global Markets, Empowered Consumers and New Rules? conference, University of Washington School of Law, Seattle | October 29, 2010; and

Speaker, Committee on International Monetary Law of the International Law Association, Basseterre, St. Kitts | November 12-13, 2010

Legal Aspects Relating to Electronic Payments
Address, National Association of Credit Management’s NACM-Canada 12^th Annual Credit Conference & Expo, Toronto | October 21, 2010

International Remittance
Presenter, International Banking Federation’s Value Transfer Networks Working Group, Teleconference | July 16, 2010

Retail Payment Systems and Laws: The Challenge of Innovation
Lecture, National Taiwan University College of Law, Taipei | June 8, 2010

Securities Holdings: Legal frameworks and mechanisms for transfers
Respondent, International Conference on Financial Law Reform - ‘Internationalization – Challenges and Opportunities’ session, National Taiwan University College of Law, Taipei | June 4, 2010

Large-value Payment Systems - Legal and Regulatory Issues
Lecture, Central Bank in Taiwan, Taipei | June 3, 2010

The Harmonization of Payment Services Law in Europe and Uniform and Federal Funds Transfer Legislation in the USA: Which is a Better Model for Reform?
Guest Lecturer, Annual Banking Law Update, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa | April 21-22, 2010

M-Money-Legal and Regulatory Issues
Presenter, Columbia Institute for Tele-Information’s The Macroeconomics of Mobile Money, Columbia University, New York | April 2, 2010

M-money
Presenter, International Banking Federation’s Value Transfer Networks Working Group, Teleconference | March 25, 2010

A Framework for Debit Cards and other Electronic Funds Transfers in Canada: Is there a Lesson from Foreign Jurisdictions?
Respondent, 39th Annual Workshop on Commercial and Consumer Law, Montreal | October 16-17, 2009

The EU Payment Services Directive: A View from Across the Ocean
Speaker, SPIN 2009: Payments in Europe in the years of turmoil, Rome | June 15-16, 2009

The Harmonization of Payment Services Law in Europe and Uniform and Federal Funds Transfer Legislation in the USA: Which is a Better Model for Reform?
Speaker, The European Harmonization of the Payment Services: The Implementation of the Directive 2007/64/CE Conference, Rome | June 11-12, 2009

Global Payment and Settlement Systems under the Uniform Commercial Code
Presenter, Legal Department of the Central European Bank, Frankfurt, Germany | July 17, 2008

Payment System Modernization and Law Reform in Developing Nations: Lessons from Cambodia and Sri Lanka
Seminar, Legal Department of the International Monetary Fund, Washington, DC | March 28, 2008

UN Convention: US Adoption?
Panelist, 2008 Annual Survey of Letter of Credit Law & Practice Conference, Tampa, FL | March 13-14, 2008

Practice Areas and Industry Groups

Financial Institutions Payments and Cards

Bar Admissions

Ontario, 1982

Education

SJD, 1980
Harvard University

LLM, 1975
Harvard University

LLB (cum laude), 1970
Hebrew University of Jerusalem