Focus on Iberia

Following the legislative elections of 14 October 2018, Pierre Gramegna was re-appointed Minister of Finance in the coalition government formed by the Democratic Party (DP), the Luxembourg Socialist Workers’ Party (LSAP) and the Green Party (déi gréng). Pierre Gramegna first joined the government as Minister of Finance in 2013.

As Minister of Finance, Pierre Gramegna has initiated major reforms to balance the budget and to align Luxembourg’s tax rules with international transparency standards. Thanks to these efforts, Luxembourg’s AAA rating has been consistently confirmed by all major rating agencies and, in 2015, the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes upgraded Luxembourg to “largely compliant”. Pierre Gramegna is also a promoter of the diversification of Luxembourg’s financial centre, in particular with regard to FinTech and sustainable finance. He is the initiator and president of the LHoFT Foundation, which runs the Luxembourg House of Financial Technology. He has also further developed bilateral relations with China in the financial sector.

Pierre Gramegna puts particular emphasis on Luxembourg’s role in multilateral development banks. In 2014, Luxembourg became a member of the African Development Bank and, in 2015, Luxembourg was the first non-Asian country to join the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank. Currently, he is the chairman of the board of Governors of the AIIB. In May 2016, Pierre Gramegna was elected chair of the Board of Governors of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development for a one-year mandate. He currently serves on the Board of Governors of the European Investment Bank and on that of the European Stability Mechanism. He is also Luxembourg’s governor to the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank.

Pierre Gramegna studied law and economics at the Université Panthéon-Assas (Paris II), where he was awarded a master’s degree in civil law in 1981 and a degree in economic sciences in 1982. He completed his post-university education with a DEA (postgraduate diploma of advanced studies) in European Union law.

As a career diplomat, Pierre Gramegna joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1983. From 1996 to 2002, Pierre Gramegna was Luxembourg’s ambassador to Japan and South Korea. From 2003 to 2013, Pierre Gramegna held the position of Director General of the Chamber of Commerce.

Michèle Eisenhuth is a Partner in the Investment Management practice of Arendt & Medernach and a member of the firm’s strategy board. She specialises in investment fund law, advising domestic and international clients on corporate, regulatory, compliance and governance matters arising in the course of the structuring, operation and reorganisation of investment funds and their management entities.

She has been a member of the Luxembourg Bar since 1995. She sits on the boards of directors of a number of funds and management companies launched by international asset management groups. She has also served on the board of directors of the Association of the Luxembourg Fund Industry (ALFI) since June 2017, as well as on the board of directors of the Institut Luxembourgeois des Administrateurs (ILA). Michèle chairs and is an active member of several ALFI committees.

Since January 2021, she has been Senior Vice Chair of the Asset Management and Investment Funds Committee of the International Bar Association (IBA). Michèle is member of various working groups of the European Fund and Asset Management Association (EFAMA). She is also a member of the European Banking Federation, with particular involvement in the Investment Funds Group.

Michèle is a regular speaker at conferences by ALFI, EFAMA, IBA, ILA, Lex Mundi and other organisations in Luxembourg and abroad.

Since 2017, Héctor Esteban Moreno is Managing Director and Member of the Board of Directors of Bankinter Luxembourg, the subsidiary of the Spanish Bankinter Group, focus on Private Banking and Wealth Management.

He also combines this role with the mandate as a Member of the Board of Directors of Bankinter International Fund SICAV, and has recently been nominated as Member of the Board of Director of the Group’s Asset Management company, Bankinter Gestión de Activos, SGIIC.

Prior to Bankinter, Héctor has held different positions of responsibility in Banca March that allowed him to acquire deep knowledge the different areas of the banking activities. In 2012, was appointed as Managing Director of Banca March Luxembourg Branch and lead the launching of the operations of this private owned bank in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. In this same stage, was embarked in the Board of Directors of Global International Investment SICAV.

Héctor Esteban Moreno holds a Business degree by CUNEF (Spain) and an Executive-MBA from Instituto de Empresa (IE) in Madrid, and accounts with more than 23 years of experience in the Banking sector.

Francisco Estevan is an entrepreneur with strong experience in European politics, finance and entrepreneurship. He has dedicated the last 15 years to economic consultancy at the European level through LocalEurope Consulting, the first company he founded. Due to his interest in the financial world and new technologies, he later launched tufinanziacion.com, a self-management platform specialised in grants and funding for SMEs and the self-employed that provides B2B services to public financial and administrative entities, both in Spain and the EU. In 2016, he launched, together with his partner Rafael Navarro, Innsomnia Accelerator, a renowned international Innovation Hub specialized in Fintech, Insurtech, eHealth and SmartPorts, which leads the largest acceleration programmes in the financial and logistics-port sector in Spain.

Francisco Estevan is also a renowned writer and lecturer, expert in new technologies, innovation, politics and financing. His latest book, “La Gran Travesía del Emprendimiento” (The Great Journey of Entrepreneurship), is a faithful reflection of his greatest passions and concerns and, according to the critics, “an essential reading for the entrepreneur”. A regular contributor to the media, in his weekly opinion column “Incertidumbres y Utopías” (Uncertainties and Utopias) in El Español, a national reference publication, he offers a vision and reflection on the latest events in the world of economics and business, always from a European perspective.

Falk Fischer was appointed Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Bank Julius Baer Europe S.A. in July 2016.

Prior to assuming this role, he was Chief Executive Officer (CEO) at Commerzbank International S.A. in Luxembourg from 2008 to 2016 and Global Head of International Wealth Management Commerzbank Group at Commerzbank AG London, United Kingdom.

Falk Fischer has more than 30 years of experience in international private banking and wealth management, having held various leading positions in the financial industry.

As the Chairman of the Swiss Banking Group in Luxembourg, Falk Fischer is a member of the Board of Directors of the ABBL.

Falk Fischer holds a Master’s Degree in Economical Sciences & International Finance from Humboldt-University in Berlin, Germany.

Christian Gillot is the CEO and founder of Tetrao, an artificial intelligence start-up in Luxembourg, which specialises in reading and understanding documents like a human being.

With experience in both industrial and academic world, he is now transforming customer experience in finance through AI.

Christian has a PhD in Machine Learning from the University of Lorraine.

Jaime Gómez-Ferrer Rincón is the Conducting Officer of Santander Asset Management (SAM) Luxembourg, a management company governed by Chapter 15 of the UCITS Law, and the Director of Santander Investments GP1 (for alternative investment strategies).

Jaime has more than 15 years of experience in private banking, insurance and investment funds. He joined SAM in 2018 from a management company and AIFM, in Luxembourg, where he was CEO in charge of the overall running of the company.

Over the course of his career, he has covered various roles in the governance, risk &compliance, AML/CFT and distribution, and  worked in the public sector in the Spanish Insurance & Pension Funds supervisor & Regulator Authority, while also being a member of joint committees at the ESMA, EBA and EIOPA in consumer protection, financial innovation and anti-money laundering task force. During the course of his career, Jaime built up an extensive knowledge of set up, governance and management of financial companies and funds.

Jaime is spanish, he is a law and legal firm adviser from ICADE, Universidad Pontificia Comillas, in Spain, certified chartered auditor and spanish civil servant financial inspector (on personal grounds).

Corinne Lamesch is the chairperson (since June 2019) and board member of the Association of the Luxembourg Fund Industry (ALFI) (since June 2017). She is a regular speaker at industry events and has been actively participating in conferences and roadshows that ALFI is organising in Luxembourg and across the globe.

Corinne is Country Head, Luxembourg at Fidelity International and has over 20 years of experience in the Luxembourg fund industry. She joined Fidelity International in 2008 and acts as Conducting Officer of Fidelity International’s Luxembourg-based management company since 2015.

Prior to joining Fidelity International, Corinne worked as a lawyer for Clifford Chance and Allen & Overy from 1998 to 2008, advising on the Luxembourg and international investment fund industry.

Corinne holds two Masters in Law from Université Robert Schuman, Strasbourg and New York University School of Law. She was admitted as a lawyer to the Luxembourg Bar (1999-2008) and to the New York Bar (since 1998).

Yves Maas, born on 29 January 1963 in Esch/Alzette (Luxembourg), holds a language degree from Universität des Saarlandes.

In 1989, he embarked on his professional career at Cedelbank (Clearstream) Luxembourg where he stayed until 1999 holding various senior positions including Director for Product Development and Member of the Executive Management Board.

In 1999, Yves Maas joined Credit Suisse Private Banking as Head of Securities & Treasury, IT & Operations and Member of the Executive Board. In 2001, he became Member of the Management Committee Technology & Operations and Head of Private Banking Operations Switzerland.

From 2004 to 2012, Yves Maas held the position of Head of International Operations of the Private Banking Division of Credit Suisse. In this capacity, he managed 23 private banking locations and was in charge of operations teams outside Switzerland across the regions (EMEA, US, APAC).

In April 2012, Yves Maas returned to Luxembourg to become CEO and Member of the Board of Credit Suisse Luxembourg S.A. and Country Head Credit Suisse Luxembourg.

Since March 2017, Yves Maas holds the position of Chairman of the Board of Credit Suisse Luxembourg.

Yves Maas has been Chairman of the Luxembourg Bankers’ Association (ABBL) from 25 April 2014 to 20 April 2018. He has been elected Vice-Chairman on 20 April 2018. Yves Maas is now the CEO of the Luxembourg Bankers’ Association since November 2019.

Herbert Muck has joined Citi as Head of EMEA Asset Manager Sales.

He has over 15 years of experience in financial services, especially in leading the on shore and off shore commercial development of the European asset managers segment. He is active in various working groups within several financial and funds association promoting the Luxembourg financial place.

He worked previously at Société Générale Securities Services as Head of Sales and Relationship Management, member of SGSS Luxembourg executive committee, and for Deutsche Börse in the Market Data & Services division, as Head of Sales.

Luis Muñoz is a Partner within the DLA Piper tax team based in Luxembourg. Luis focuses on international and corporate tax law, particularly on the tax aspects of cross-border private equity, real estate and debt investments and the tax structuring of regulated and unregulated investment platforms. Luis also advises on the tax elements of corporate restructurings and M&A transactions.

After graduating in Law from Universidad de Salamanca, Luis obtained LLM degrees in both International Business Law and European Union Law from Université Panthéon Assas (Paris 2) and Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg respectively. Luis is admitted to the bar in Luxembourg and Salamanca.

Lynn Robbroeckx is Secretary General at Luxembourg for Finance (LFF), the agency for the development of the financial centre.

Prior to joining LFF, Lynn served as Head of Communication at the Luxembourg Space Agency (LSA) and SpaceResources.lu initiative.

She holds a Master Degree in Sinology from the Catholic University of Louvain in Belgium and studied Chinese at Chengkung University in Taiwan. She began her career at the Luxembourg Embassy in Beijing and later on worked for the world’s leading steel and mining company, ArcelorMittal, in China and London.

She currently also serves as Secretary General of PROFIL, the Luxembourg Financial Industry Federation.

Graduated of the Masters in Economics from the University of Seville (Spain) and a Post Graduate in Foreign Economic Policy from the Fachhochschule Düsseldorf (Germany), Juan José Rodríguez García began his professional career in 1998 at Deutsche Bank Spain.

In 2001, he joined the Luxembourg life insurance company Euresa Life as Account Manager for the Spanish market. In 2006, he became Head of Spanish-speaking markets (Latam and Spain) of Cardif Lux Vie, then in 2012, Head of the development of the Swiss distribution network for non-Swiss resident clients.

In October 2015, he was appointed Director of the Representative Office in Switzerland (Geneva), while remaining International Markets Director in charge of the Hispanic markets for the Company.

Juan José Rodríguez García regularly speaks at round tables on international life insurance topics.