The Allen & Overy Luxembourg podcast: Recent Episodes
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Allen & Overy is one of the leading international law firms in Luxembourg – offering advanced solutions to respond to increased client expectations and the provision of seamless legal services.
In this series of podcasts, our lawyers share their perspectives on today’s most significant legal, regulatory and business issues.
Disclaimer: podcasts are not legal advice. Laws may have changed since a podcast was recorded.
Welcome to episode #3 of the A&O Career Insights podcast. This podcast series aims to shine a light on individuals in the firm, to explore how they navigated their careers to become more senior and successful. Our host, Danielle Viner, a training events coordinator in London, will be interviewing a different guest in each episode to help inspire people to shape their own careers,
In this episode, Danielle meets with Jantien van Renterghem, a financial crime and sanctions lawyer in the BAU. In this episode, Jantien shares invaluable insights into the role of the BAU, outlining how she ensures that accepted business aligns with the firm's commercial objectives and legal obligations. We also delve into the effects of global conflicts on new business, including the recent Russian invasion of Ukraine.
In this final episode of Voices for Change season one, Justin Farrance is joined by Hilde van der Baan, A&O’s Social Impact Group partner and Sara Bowcutt, Managing Director of Women for Women International UK.
Hilde and Sara share their thoughts on the importance of engaging with men on global issues impacting women, how everyone has the power to make a change, plus lessons from our impactful partnership with Women for Women International.
Voices for Change was a project built to create a community of diverse thinkers and doers, and we hope each episode raised awareness of key stories and lessons. As Sara puts it, ‘don’t underestimate the impact your passion can have on other people’.
La Legge sulla Competitività dei Capitali vuole favorire la raccolta dei capitali sul mercato, sia incentivando la quotazione di nuove società sia semplificando le regole applicabili alle società già quotate. Alessandra Pala, counsel del dipartimento International Capital Markets, e Marco Biallo, senior associate del dipartimento Corporate, parlano dei cambiamenti più rilevanti per le società, dalla corporate governance e lo svolgimento dell’assemblea delle società quotate, al voto plurimo e maggiorato, fino alle misure adottate in tema di piccole e medie imprese.
In this episode, we continue our discussion with Dr. Sandie Okoro OBE, Group General Counsel at Standard Chartered Bank joins Justin Farrance.
Sandie was told at the age of eight that ‘little black girls like you don’t become judges’.
Having ignored the naysayers and risen to be listed by Powerlist as one of the most influential people of African and African Caribbean heritage in the U.K., Sandie shares her story, meaningful advice to those who feel pressured to conform within their careers, and some of her decisions along the way, including why her ‘Women in Law’ portrait is captioned, ‘this is what a single mother from Balham looks like’.
In this episode, we continue our discussion with Dr. Sandie Okoro OBE, Group General Counsel at Standard Chartered Bank joins Justin Farrance.
Sandie was told at the age of eight that ‘little black girls like you don’t become judges’.
Having ignored the naysayers and risen to be listed by Powerlist as one of the most influential people of African and African Caribbean heritage in the U.K., Sandie shares her story, meaningful advice to those who feel pressured to conform within their careers, and some of her decisions along the way, including why her ‘Women in Law’ portrait is captioned, ‘this is what a single mother from Balham looks like’.
In this episode, Dr. Sandie Okoro OBE, Group General Counsel at Standard Chartered Bank joins Justin Farrance.
Sandie was told at the age of eight that ‘little black girls like you don’t become judges’.
Having ignored the naysayers and risen to be listed by Powerlist as one of the most influential people of African and African Caribbean heritage in the U.K., Sandie shares her story, meaningful advice to those who feel pressured to conform within their careers, and some of her decisions along the way, including why her ‘Women in Law’ portrait is captioned, ‘this is what a single mother from Balham looks like’.
In this episode, Dr. Sandie Okoro OBE, Group General Counsel at Standard Chartered Bank joins Justin Farrance.
Sandie was told at the age of eight that ‘little black girls’ like you don’t become judges.
Having ignored the naysayers and risen to be listed by Powerlist as one of the most influential people of African and African Caribbean heritage in the U.K., Sandie shares her story, meaningful advice to those who feel pressured to conform within their careers, and some of her decisions along the way, including why her ‘Women in Law’ portrait is captioned, ‘this is what a single mother from Balham looks like’.
Cristiano Tommasi, Alessandra Pala ed Emiliano La Sala del dipartimento International Capital Markets di Allen & Overy in Italia, fanno il punto sui principali cambiamenti che porta il DDL Capitali, una legge che si pone come obiettivo la crescita del mercato dei capitali italiano.
In this podcast, our tax experts look into the implications of Pillar Two, the OECD/G20’s initiative to introduce a global minimum tax, for structured finance transactions.
Tax partners Chris Harrison, Esther Lemmon and Charles Yorke speak to tax knowledge counsel Brin Rajathurai about various topics including:
- A recap of the global minimum tax – what is Pillar Two and how does it work?
- The tax consequences of the new rules in the context of structured finance transactions and the potential commercial repercussions
- The significance of consolidation for Pillar Two purposes and unexpected grouping of orphan vehicles
- How the UK and other jurisdictions are addressing some of the potential issues for structured finance transactions
Livio Bossotto e Giorgia Giorgetti, rispettivamente partner e counsel del dipartimento Employment di Allen & Overy in Italia, parlano del recente provvedimento con cui il Garante della Privacy ha chiarito i limiti per il trattamento dei metadati contenuti nella posta elettronica dei dipendenti da parte del datore di lavoro e della portata di tale provvedimento per le aziende.
In this podcast, Godwin Tan and Vicky Chen from A&O’s Society of East Asian Lawyers (SEAL) chat with Grace Wang and Miao Wang, two recently promoted A&O partners based in New York and Luxembourg respectively.
Grace and Miao discuss their career journeys, the challenges and opportunities they faced as lawyers of East Asian ethnicity, and their advice for junior lawyers. Tune in to hear about the experiences and achievements of two East Asian lawyers across three continents!
In this podcast, members from our global ESG and sustainability team discuss what lies ahead on the sustainability agenda and the key regulatory developments to watch in 2024.
The main themes include:
- Political and economic drivers of market activity and regulation, including the implications of 2024's “year of elections” and of the commitments made at COP28 [01:23];
- Sustainability data and reporting – key trends in the global sustainability reporting landscape [17:26], and three significant challenges for business, namely: scope 3 GHG emissions, transition plans, and nature [26:17].
- Supply chains – significant regulatory initiatives focusing on adverse impacts on human rights and the environment [31:56], deforestation [40:09], and critical minerals for the net zero transition [35:08].
- Carbon pricing, carbon trading and related measures, including carbon border adjustment mechanisms [44:05], voluntary carbon markets and Article 6 of the Paris Agreement [47:47].
- Closing thoughts [50:26], including on ESG litigation, greenwashing claims and enforcement, the weaponisation of ESG, PFAS regulatory enforcement and litigation, and the interplay between taxonomies, reporting frameworks and transition plans.
This podcast was recorded on 31 January 2024.
In this episode, Johanna Tschurtschenthaler (Counsel, Tax), Stephanie Yiolitou (Senior Associate, Tax) and Chiara Wolf (Junior Associate, Tax) uncover the impact of ATAD 2’s reverse hybrid mismatch rule on Luxembourg fund structures and dive deep into the implications of this rule for Luxembourg fund entities.
They share best practices related to tax structuring and risk management for Luxembourg funds and give an update on the latest guidance from tax authorities regarding the respective tax forms.
An episode full of practical examples and answers to the market’s most common questions!
In this episode, Johanna Tschurtschenthaler (Counsel, Tax), Stephanie Yiolitou (Senior Associate, Tax) and Chiara Wolf (Junior Associate, Tax) uncover the impact of ATAD 2’s reverse hybrid mismatch rule on Luxembourg fund structures and dive deep into the implications of this rule for Luxembourg fund entities.
They share best practices related to tax structuring and risk management for Luxembourg funds and give an update on the latest guidance from tax authorities regarding the respective tax forms.
An episode full of practical examples and answers to the market’s most common questions!
Pol Theisen (Counsel, M&A et Real Estate) et Philippe Eicher (Senior Associate, M&A et Real Estate) lancent une nouvelle série de podcast autour du marché immobilier au Luxembourg.
Dans le premier épisode de cette série, ils discutent de l’état actuel du marché immobilier qui fait face à une situation difficile ainsi que des différentes mesures proposées par le nouveau gouvernement afin de redynamiser le secteur.
In this latest LILLA podcast in collaboration with Allen & Overy Luxembourg, Catherine Di Lorenzo (Head of IP, Data & Tech) and Bénédicte Kurth (Head of Knowledge), share their insights on how generative AI can boost your business with the practical example of Harvey a powerful AI tool that generates legal documents in a few minutes.
In this podcast, Maurice Macchi (counsel) and Julian Kisslinger (associate), members of the Luxembourg Employment Law team, discuss the Luxembourg law on moral harassment, which has been adopted on 9 March 2023. They address the major points and obligations for Luxembourg employers and share their point of view and practical tips on how to comply with the new law’s provisions.
In this podcast, Anne-Sophie Besançon (Associate, FS regulatory team) is joined by Jacques Graas (Partner, Corporate and M&A team) to discuss the series of recent shock waves in the banking sector and their impact on the Luxembourg financial sector.
They will in particular assess similarities and differences with the 2008 crisis, shed light on some of the legal complexities of the recent UBS-Credit Suisse deal and share thoughts on the broader trends that the recent developments may trigger for the banking industry.
In this podcast, Frank Mausen (Partner), Baptiste Aubry (Counsel), Guilhèm Becvort (Counsel) and Marc Tkatcheff (Counsel) discuss why non-EU banks should consider having a presence in Luxembourg.
Join Zofia White (Senior Associate) and Franz Kerger (Counsel) for their latest podcast as they discuss their journey on the ATAD3 highway.
In this podcast, Codrina Constantinescu (Counsel, Luxembourg), Tamara Cizeika (Counsel, London) and Benjamin Lacourt (Counsel, Paris) discuss SFDR and taxonomy challenges and opportunities in the funds industry.
In this podcast Fiona Cumming (Partner), Bénédicte Kurth (Counsel), Hannah Gates (Senior Associate) and Andreas Hommel (Counsel) discuss hot topics, trends and practical insights across asset classes and financing products, ranging from fund-level financing, fund guarantees and equity commitment letters to leveraged finance and direct lending products.
Twenty years ago, as a reaction to an unprecedented series of major corporate and accounting scandals, the U.S. enacted the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which provides for a specific whistleblower protection.
In this podcast, Maurice Macchi (counsel) and Julian Kisslinger (associate), members of the Luxembourg Employment Law team, discuss the Luxembourg Bill implementing the EU 2019 Directive on the protection of individuals (“whistleblowers”) who report violations of EU law. They also address the major points and obligations for Luxembourg employers arising thereof.
Keen to learn more? Then listen to the newest A&O Luxembourg Podcast.
In our newest episode of the Allen & Overy Luxembourg Podcast, Victoria Woestmann, Senior Associate in our Corporate M&A department, discussed all things Beneficiary Units with Justine Yansenne, junior associate in our Corporate M&A department, who recently won the Prix de l’ALJB 2020 for an empirical study on the market practice for beneficiary units in Luxembourg commercial companies, together with her university colleague, Dr. Thomas Biermeyer. Keen to find out what beneficiary units are, what they are used for, and whether you have to pay for them with your own sweat and blood ? Listen in !
Listen in to an informal coffee break conversation on (the Luxembourg implementation of) DAC 6 between Zofia White (Senior Associate) and Franz Kerger (Counsel), both tax lawyers within Allen & Overy Luxembourg.
“DAC6” is the sixth EU directive on automatic exchange of information in the field of taxation. Its purpose is to provide Member States with information on reportable cross-border arrangements so as to enable them to close loopholes and combat harmful tax practices.
In this podcast, Victoria Woestmann (senior associate in the Luxembourg Corporate team) and two members of the Luxembourg Employment Law team, Laurie Lougsami (associate) and Maurice Macchi (counsel), discuss some of the key considerations for employers over the coming months as they prepare for a return to the office in a post-Covid-19 world.
Jacques Graas, partner in the Luxembourg corporate team, Paul Péporté, a partner in the Luxembourg ICM team, and Victoria Woestmann, a senior associate in the Luxembourg corporate team, talk about the SPACtacular world of Special Purpose Acquisition Vehicles (SPAC), how de-SPACing is as important as getting the SPAC listed, and why Luxembourg is a great market to absorb the SPAC wave that is flooding into Europe over the Atlantic.
Keen to learn more? Then listen to the newest A&O Luxembourg Podcast.
Banks’ internal governance issues have, in recent years, received increased attention from regulators and international bodies, aimed primarily at correcting weak or superficial internal governance set-ups and practices.
In this context, the CSSF Circular 20/759 recently amended the CSSF Circular 12/552 on central administration, internal governance and risk management and aligned it with relevant European guidance (notably the EBA Guidelines on internal governance (EBA/GL/2017/11) and the Joint ESMA and EBA Guidelines on the assessment of suitability of members of the management body and key function holders (EBA/GL/2017/12).
Testimony to the importance of the topic in the coming years, the amendments made to the CSSF circular 12/552 go beyond mere cosmetic updates and:
- clarify certain internal governance requirements applicable to banks;
- define the scope of certain regulatory principles (such as the principle of proportionality); and not least
- formalise the CSSF’s approach and practice in certain areas.
In this podcast, Henri Wagner, the head of A&O’s Luxembourg banking regulatory practice, is joined by Carole Schmidt and Andrei Costica, who are respectively counsel and associate in the firm’s Banking-ICM and Regulatory team, in an interactive discussion on the key amendments to the revised CSSF circular 12/552.
Today, Luxembourg is widely used as a hub to set up alternative investment funds (so-called upstream or fund formation) and to structure and execute transactions at the funds’ investment portfolio level (so-called downstream transactions).
In this podcast, Natacha Oskian (head of business development) is joined by Peter Myners (partner and co-head of [Global] Alternative Investment Initiative) and Patrick Mischo (office senior partner) to discuss the main features of the Luxembourg alternative investment space and how it has been adjusting to the Covid-19 crisis.
They will also discuss what makes Luxembourg so special and distinct from other countries and examine some of the changes alternative investment managers are experiencing today.
The popularity and volume of capital call financings (also called subscription lines or equity bridge facilities) have steadily increased over the past few years (including in Luxembourg) and this trend is here to stay. In this podcast Bénédicte Kurth (Counsel, Banking), Joanna Pecenik (Counsel, Investment Funds) and Yannick Arbaut (Partner, Investment Funds) explain the logic and key features of capital call financings.
Luxembourg is about to add the missing piece to its legislative framework to enable the issuance of crypto-securities using decentralised ledger technology (“DLT”).
In this podcast, Natacha Oskian is joined by Philippe Noeltner, a lawyer and associate who is part of Allen & Overy’s Luxembourg International Capital Markets team, to discuss the following:
- the objectives of Bill 7637 concerning the issuance of dematerialised securities on DLT devices, such as blockchain and Ethereum;
- the importance of Bill 7637 for Luxembourg Capital Markets ecosystem and how this Bill may lead to a new era for crypto-securities in Luxembourg;
- the use of DLT-based wallets to operate an issuer’s issuance account, and investors’ securities accounts;
- how both legal certainty and investor protection are ensured; and
- grey areas and opportunities.
The inclusion of virtual asset service providers in the scope of the AML Act 2004 and the additional restrictions on the use of anonymised e-money instruments showcase the need to address the “Fintech” spread in the financial sector and to mitigate the potential threats they pose to the current AML/CTF framework. Counsel Carole Schmidt and Senior Associate Baptiste Aubry discuss the implications of those measures while reminding of the need to embrace new technologies and the bright side of legal or reg-tech as powerful tools to improve AML/CTF processes, for both customers and professionals.
Counsel Thomas Berger and Senior Associate Baptiste Aubry discuss the extraterritorial effects of the AML Act 2004 in light of the recent implementation of 5MLD into Luxembourg law. They shed some light on the impact of these effects on obliged entities and on the particular measures to apply where high-risk countries are in the picture.
Partner Henri Wagner, Counsel Carole Schmitt and Counsel Thomas Berger discuss Luxembourg’s implementation of 5MLD and how obliged entities should adapt to these new rules in their approach to CDD.
In this episode, partner Jacques Graas and senior associate Pol Theisen discuss the status of the Luxembourg M&A market and the key considerations for sellers/buyers in light of the ongoing Covid-19 crisis.
In this podcast, Partner, Henri Wagner and Counsel, François-Guillaume de Liedekerke introduce you to the recent draft of a law which, under Luxembourg law, aims to establish a new regime of professional guarantee of payment and guide you on how you can benefit from such a regime in the context of international financial transactions.
The European Commission has been using state aid law to challenge advance pricing agreements (APAs) given by some member states to multinationals over the last few years.
In this context, on 24 September 2019, the General Court of the European Union has rendered its first individual decisions, i.e. the Fiat and the Starbucks decisions: while the Court considered that the APA granted by Luxembourg to Fiat constituted a selective advantage, it has on the contrary annulled the Commission's decision that the APA granted by the Netherlands to Starbucks was unlawful state aid.
In this podcast Sophie Balliet (Counsel, Tax) and Jean Schaffner (Partner, Tax) of Allen & Overy Luxembourg will discuss both decisions and their likely impact.
In this podcast, Partner Henri Wagner, Counsel Carole Schmidt and Senior Associate Baptiste Aubry guide you through the Covid-19 crisis measures in place for the Luxembourg financial sector and make recommendations on how to take advantage of these measures while complying with regulators' expectations.
The second anti-tax avoidance directive (ATAD 2) applicable as of 1 January 2020 (except for reverse hybrid mismatches, applicable as of 1 January 2022) will introduce anti-hybrid rules in the European Union. ATAD 2 has a significant impact on how alternative investment funds and their underlying investments are structured. In this podcast Johanna Tschurtschenthaler (Senior Associate, Tax) and Patrick Mischo (Partner, Tax) of Allen & Overy Luxembourg will discuss the basic concepts and how the alternative investments space will be affected (both with respect to existing funds and new fund projects).
Every day the media reports an increasing number of people infected with the coronavirus. The media also reports cases of people who have been quarantined after having been in contact with people who may be carriers of the virus or after having stayed in a risk area. In this podcast, we address this current event from the perspective of the rights and obligations of an employer in Luxembourg faced with the coronavirus issue so that he/she/it can take the necessary measures with full knowledge of the facts.
We have also prepared FAQs on this subject.
L’employeur face au coronavirus – quels sont les droits et obligations de l’employeur à Luxembourg?
Chaque jour les médias font état d’un nombre croissant de personnes contaminées par le coronavirus. Les médias relatent également le cas de personnes placées en quarantaine après avoir été en contact avec des personnes susceptibles d’être porteuses du virus ou après avoir séjourné dans une zone à risque. Dans ce podcast, nous abordons ce fait d’actualité sous la perspective des droits et obligations d’un employeur à Luxembourg confronté à la question du coronavirus afin qu’il puisse prendre les mesures nécessaires en connaissance de cause.
Nous avons également préparé des FAQ sur ce sujet.