Focus on Life after Brexit

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.

Nicolas Mackel is CEO of Luxembourg for Finance, the Agency for the Development of the Financial Centre, since July 2013.

Nicolas is a career diplomat. He has graduated with a law degree from the University of Aix-en-Provence, and holds two post-graduate diplomas in European law from the Sorbonne University, respectively the College of Europe in Bruges where he then also served as a teaching assistant in the Law Department. He worked as a legal clerk at the European Court of Justice before joining the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1999. His assignments focused on the successive EU Treaty negotiations (Amsterdam, Nice, Constitution, Lisbon).

Nicolas was consecutively posted at Luxembourg’s Permanent Representation to the EU (2002-07), as Deputy Chief of Mission at Luxembourg’s Embassy in Washington DC (2007-11) and as Consul General in Shanghai (2011-13) where he was in charge of promoting Luxembourg’s economic interests throughout China as the Executive Director of the Luxembourg Trade and Investment Office.

Gregor Bollen recently assume the role of GMM for Northern Europe, responsible for the strategic development and growth of CPB’s business in Germany, Austria, Scandinavia, the Benelux and France. Gregor joined CPB in 2017 from J.P. Morgan Private Bank where he had been an Executive Director and senior banker for 10 years.

He started his banking career 22 years ago working for ING and ABN AMRO in several client advisory and marketing roles.

Miles Celic is Chief Executive Officer of TheCityUK and has held this position since September 2016. He is also a member of the Department for International Trade Advisory Groups on Financial Services and Professional Advisory Services, a board member of UK Finance and a board member of the Financial Services Skills Commission. Miles began his career in broadcasting, making and presenting radio and television programmes for the BBC and others. He moved on to work in the UK Parliament, where he focused on foreign affairs and defence issues. Miles subsequently worked in a number of leading reputation management and public policy consultancies, including a period at an arm of Omnicom – one of the world’s largest communications agency groups – where he advised clients including the BBC, the International Committee of the Red Cross and a number of international financial firms.

In 2007, Miles joined HSBC’s policy function to lead political engagement. He was part of the team that led the bank’s response to the global banking crisis. Miles moved to Prudential in 2009 as Director of Group Public Affairs & Policy and became Director of Group Strategic Communications in 2013. He was a member of Prudential’s Group Leadership Team.

Noel Fessey is CEO, chairman of the Executive Committee and member of the Board of Directors of EFA.

Noel entered financial services in 2000 after a 13-year military career specialising in logistics and IT. He joined Schroder Investment Management in London as the Schroders Group head of IT security, and quickly took on additional responsibilities.

From 2003 to 2016 Noel was Managing Director of Schroder Investment Management (Luxembourg) S.A., a regulated fund management company licensed to manage retail and alternative investment funds. For more than 13 years Noel led a team that developed the company into Schroders’ largest operations centre outside of London.

Noel was appointed Schroders’ global head of fund services in 2005 and chief operations officer of Schroders’ product division in 2016.

Noel was a member of the board of directors of the Association of the Luxembourg Fund Industry (ALFI) from 2005 to 2016 and has been a member of ALFI’s Strategic Board since 2019.

Patrick is the national managing partner of the firm’s Luxembourg office. He is also a partner of the Luxembourg capital markets and banking group and takes a lead in the overall coordination of the office’s real estate practice.

Patrick is a recognised expert by the industry in banking, restructuring and insolvency, structured finance (including tax-based and fund-linked products), asset finance, debt capital markets products and securitisation. He advises international financial groups and investors on the setting up and acquisition of Luxembourg banking and insurance businesses. This includes advising on regulatory requirements, product review and monetary policy matters.

Steve Jacoby is the Regional Managing Partner for Continental Europe of the Luxembourg office of Clifford Chance and co-heads the Luxembourg Banking, Finance and Capital Markets practice, handling lending, securitisation, capital markets, regulatory, derivatives, general banking law (including litigation), corporate law and insolvency matters.

His practice focuses in particular on financial regulatory matters as well as on Fintech and innovation. Steve is also an associate lecturer (Chargé de Cours Associé) at the University of Luxembourg in Banking, Finance and Capital Markets law.

Robert Jan Jarvis is an Advisor for Luxembourg for Finance (LFF).

Robert’s role is to advise LFF and its stakeholders on the strategic orientation of the financial centre, specializing on a number of topics including Brexit, FinTech, and sustainable finance. He represents the Luxembourg financial industry abroad and helps others understand Luxembourg’s financial services toolkit and the industry in general.

He is frequently involved in advising international companies on what Luxembourg can offer them and guides them on their first steps in the EU. His geographic focus of attracting companies to Luxembourg is global, with specialties in North America and Europe.

Prior to joining the LFF, he worked in a number of regulatory consultancies in the asset management industry helping asset managers with their regulatory compliance and developing FinTech solutions in risk management. He also worked as an Economic policy advisor at the European Parliament in Brussels in the ECON Committee.

Robert holds an MA in Economics and an MA in European Governance, and speaks 6 languages (English, German, Luxembourgish, Dutch, French, Italian). He holds three nationalities: Luxembourg, British, and Dutch.

Isabelle Jaspart works as Head of Division in the legal department of the Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier. She is in charge of the financial consumer protection and is a member of various national and international committees dealing with financial consumer protection. Her work at the legal department includes a cross-sectoral focus on all financial regulatory matters.

Isabelle has a thorough experience in many regulatory matters relating to consumer or investor protection, with a specific focus on MiFID II, MiFIR and PRIIPs matters. She also participates to works relating to financial innovation and sustainable finance.

She is a member of the Brexit task force organized within the CSSF.

She holds a master in law from the Université Catholique de Louvain, as well as a DEC and a DES in business law from the Université Libre de Bruxelles.

Before joining the CSSF, Isabelle was a member of the Luxembourg bar (avocat à la Cour) and worked ten years for the capital markets and banking department of Linklaters.

Anne-George Kuzuhara is the Deputy Head of the CSSF’s Banking Supervisory Policy and SSM Coordination Department. She is in charge of policy issues relating to the prudential framework applicable to banks and other financial institutions. She represents the CSSF in international fora, including the European Banking Authority, and provides technical expertise to the Ministry of Finance in relation to the negotiation of sectoral legislations at the levels of the European Commission and the Council of the European Union. She also deals with the transposition in Luxembourg law of EU laws and regulations applicable to banks and financial institutions. Anne-George is a member of the Brexit task force within the CSSF.

Before joining the CSSF in 2014, Anne-George worked for 7 years as a senior associate for the Luxembourg law firm Allen & Overy, specialising in financial regulatory matters. Before then, she worked for 4 years as a lawyer for BNP Paribas Securities in Tokyo and Paris specialising in derivatives transactions.

Anne-George is also a lecturer (Conférencière) at the University of Luxembourg in European Banking Law.