Focus on the Savings and Investments Union

HE Nicolas Mackel is the Permanent Representative of Luxembourg to the EU since September 2024.

Previously, Nicolas was 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.

Silke Bernard is a Partner in our Investment Funds practice and a key contact for some of the largest global fund sponsors in private markets. With special expertise in alternative investment funds, she covers retail and professional funds: private equity, real estate, private credit and other alternative funds and investment management arrangements.

Silke advises on the structuring, establishment and regulation of funds and asset management businesses. Her work includes the setting-up of co-investment structures, tailored managed accounts and asset management regulatory work. Alongside Silke’s extensive experience of diversified and tailored investment structures she is legal counsel to several retail investor flagship funds. She is chairing several working groups of the ALFI and of the LPEA. She is leading Luxembourg’s industry efforts on ELTIF and on the PEPP.

She is a committee member of the EFAMA in Brussels and is a regular speaker at various national and international conferences.

Corinne Lamesch is Deputy CEO and General Counsel of the Association of the Luxembourg Fund Industry (ALFI), a role she has held since September 2024.

She previously served as Chair of the ALFI Board of Directors from June 2019 to June 2023.

With more than 25 years of experience in the Luxembourg fund industry, Corinne built her career across leading law firms and the asset management sector. She joined Fidelity International in 2008 to head its European legal department, later becoming Country Head for Luxembourg in 2017. From 2015 until August 2024, she also acted as Conducting Officer of Fidelity’s Luxembourg-based management company.

Earlier in her career, Corinne practiced law at Clifford Chance and Allen & Overy (1998–2008), advising clients on Luxembourg and international investment fund matters.

She holds two Master’s degrees in Law, from Université Robert Schuman in Strasbourg and from New York University School of Law. Corinne was admitted to the Luxembourg Bar (1999–2008) and has been a member of the New York Bar since 1998.

Frank Mausen specialises in securities laws, capital markets regulation (including stock exchange listings and structured finance) as well as banking laws. Clients include banks as well as corporate, institutional, supranational and sovereign issuers for whom he advises on debt and equity transactions and structured finance transactions including securitisation, structured products, covered bonds, IPOs, placements and buy-backs of securities, exchange offers, listing applications and ongoing obligations deriving from such listings. He has more than 20 years of experience in these areas. Frank is also the Market Intelligence and Know-How Partner at A&O Shearman in Luxembourg.

Frank regularly holds conferences on securitisation and other capital markets topics in Luxembourg and abroad. He is a member of the securitisation working group of ALFI (the Association of the Luxembourg Fund Industry) and the securitisation working group and the financial markets committee of the ABBL (the Luxembourg Bankers’ association). Frank is also a member of the Islamic Finance working group of Luxembourg for Finance (Luxembourg’s agency for the development of the Luxembourg financial centre) and has joined the Haut Comité de la Place Financière (a committee set-up by the Luxembourg Ministry of Finance aiming to modernise Luxembourg’s financial sector legislation). Frank is also the chairman of the Luxembourg Capital Markets Association (LuxCMA).

Frank served from 2018 to 2020 as Managing Partner of the firm in Luxembourg.

Benoît Theunissen is a Policy and Regulatory Affairs Advisor with Luxembourg for Finance. In this role, he specializes in the analysis and monitoring of regulatory developments spanning local, European, and international spheres. Alongside this, he engages in broader strategic analysis, encompassing political and market intelligence and offering guidance on a range of sustainable finance issues.

Before joining Luxembourg for Finance, Benoît Theunissen worked as a business and financial journalist, including roles as an EU-accredited correspondent and Editor-in-Chief. Additionally, he has experience in financial crime compliance and forensic auditing, where he assisted diverse sectors including oil and gas, and pharmaceuticals. His role extended to aiding financial institutions ranging from depositary and custodian banks to international clearinghouses and retail banks. His focus was on developing and implementing compliance frameworks for anti-money laundering, counter-terrorist financing, anti-corruption, as well as enforcing international sanctions and restrictive measures in various jurisdictions.

Jérôme Wigny became a member of the Luxembourg Bar in 1994 and a partner of Elvinger Hoss Prussen in 2001.

He specialises in investment funds (UCITS and AIFs, in particular those pursuing alternative strategies) as well as management companies and alternative investment fund managers (AIFMs).

He is a member of the “Luxembourg Association of Investment Funds” (ALFI) and co-chairs the Hedge Fund commission. He is also a member of the investment fund committee of the “Luxembourg Directors’ Institute” (ILA) and a member of the Consultative Working Group of ESMA’s Investment Management Standing Committee.

He holds a “licence en droit belge” from the Université Catholique de Louvain-la-Neuve. He is a regular speaker at conferences and seminars, in particular in relation to investment fund-related topics, and is a lecturer at the University of Luxembourg for their Master in Investment Funds Law.