Focus on USA: Luxembourg solutions for US investors

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.

Thibault de Barsy is the Vice-Chairman and General Manager of The Payments Association EU.

Thibault has launched the Payments Association EU (PA EU)  in February 2020. The Payments Association EU is a business club of decision makers in the payments industry. Its members are the enterprises forming all the components of the payments value chain in the 27 countries of the European Union.  PA EU builds on the international network of its London-based sister organisation, the Payments Association (PA).

Thibault was formerly CEO of Keytrade Bank Luxembourg for 5 years and has over 20 years of experience in the financial and ICT sector. Thibault is also a guest lecturer at the Solvay Brussels School of Economics and Management. Since October 2019, he has participated as a recurrent guest speaker on the Belgian news TV channel LN24 as an Economics columnist.

Before settling in Luxembourg, he held different marketing & sales positions across banks, insurance, telco and credit card companies.

Thibault holds a Master of Science in Management from the Solvay Brussels School of Economics and Management and a CEFA certificate from the Belgian Association of Financial Analysts.

Jean‑Marc Goy is Conducting Officer, Senior Counsel and Member of the Board of Capital International Management Company (CIMC), the Luxembourg management company of Capital Group.

Before joining Capital Group, Jean-Marc was working for some 20 years for the CSSF, where he was the Head of the International Affairs Department covering in particular the communication and relations with other Supervisory Authorities from around the globe.

He represented the CSSF within a number of international forums, such as the ESMA Investment Management Standing Committee and its Sub‑Groups, the IOSCO and others.

Jean‑Marc is a Member of the Board of the ALFI and of its Strategic Advisory Board. He is also a Member of the Investment Fund Managers Committee of the CSSF.

He lectures in regulation of the financial sector at the University of Luxembourg and he is the Vice‑President of the Board of the Luxembourg Institute of Socio‑Economic Research (LISER).

Before joining the supervisory authority in 1998, Jean‑Marc worked a couple of years as an attorney‑at‑law for a Luxembourg law firm.

He has studied law at the University of Montpellier (France), where he earned a Master of Laws degree and a postgraduate degree in intellectual property law.

Keith O’Donnell is a founding Partner and the Managing Partner of ATOZ.

A tax professional since 1988, Keith has experience in advising international groups on the design and implementation of global tax strategies. He is/has been actively involved in several key tax international bodies including the OECD’s collective investment vehicle ICG and the TRACE BAG.

Keith is the chairman of the Luxembourg chapter of IFA, the Chair of ALFI Tax Commission, the Chair of the INREV Tax Committee and member of other Luxembourg advisory and industry bodies. Keith is also board member and Real Estate Head of Taxand.

Keith is a regular author and speaker at professional and academic conferences. He studied Law then qualified as a Tax Adviser and as a Chartered Accountant in Ireland and Luxembourg, and has completed numerous post-qualification continuing education programmes.

Catherine Pogorzelski is the Country Managing Partner of the DLA Piper Luxembourg office. She advises fund managers and investors on the structuring and formation of and investment into alternative investment funds, particularly within the private equity, real estate and debt funds sectors.

Catherine’s practice also includes assisting clients in connection with funds and general regulatory matters, general corporate law and in particular transactional work relating to investment funds and investment management related financial services.

She also assists on all legal aspects impacting alternative investment fund managers, funds management entities and their service providers, including funds cross-border distribution and investment management operator structuring, regulatory compliance and ongoing activities.

Catherine is a founding member and member of the board of directors of Dress For Success Luxembourg, Co-Chair of the Legal Committee of the LPEA and an active member of the ALFI.

Olivier Portenseigne was appointed CEO of FundsDLT in May 2020, when the company was incorporated. Olivier led the development of FundsDLT project from its start in June 2016, as a ground-breaking blockchain project initiated by the Luxembourg Stock Exchange and its subsidiary Fundsquare.

From 2013 to 2020, he was also the Chief Commercial Officer and Managing Director of Fundsquare, the fund market infrastructure leader in data management and exchange.

Olivier has more than 25 years of experience in the fund industry and he previously held various senior management positions related to shareholder services and distribution support activities at RBC Investor & Treasury Services.

Deirdre joined State Street Bank Luxembourg in September 2015 as Client Relationship Manager and has recently taken responsibility for the Client Management team. The team manage over 120 client relationships across the globe.  Deirdre is responsible for partnering with clients to ensure service quality and delivery of solutions to support client growth strategies.

Deirdre has over 20 years of experience in the financial services industry, including relationship management, business implementation and operations service delivery. She has worked for a number of key service providers in the market and has been based in Dublin, London and Luxembourg.

Serene is an assurance partner in the PwC Luxembourg office and has been with the firm for 25 years.  She began her career at PricewaterhouseCoopers in the Columbus, Ohio office in 1995, worked in the New York office for 3 years, before eventually moving to Luxembourg in 2007. Throughout her time with the firm her focus has been on the Asset & Wealth Management industry working with a number of global asset managers on their cross-border investment platforms. Her experience includes the audits of a wide range of investment products- traditional retail and alternatives under US, European and offshore regulations.

In addition to audit, Serene has led our Risk Assurance practice in Luxembourg for the past 5 years and has worked closely with asset managers and asset service providers in the realm of risk assessment, and control design and enhancement.

Serene has spent a number of years actively promoting Luxembourg as an asset management location in the US, UK and Middle East.

Serene received her BSBA from the Ohio State University, is a Certified Public Accountant and a Réviseur d’Entreprises.

Nasir Zubairi is CEO of The LHoFT – The Luxembourg House of Financial Technology, a public/private sector initiative to drive fintech innovation in Luxembourg.

He sits on the IMF’s High Level Advisory Group on Finance and Technology and the OECD’s Blockchain Expert Policy Advisory Board. He has been a Non-Executive Board director at a “traditional” bank, Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken (SEB) S.A. Nasir has worked in Financial Services for 22 years. He spent 13 years working within Capital Markets at RBS, ICAP, HSBC and EBS.  He has been immersed in the Fintech and startup sector since 2011.

As an entrepreneur, Nasir has built multiple Fintech businesses across verticals. He has advised the boards of leading financial institutions, central banks and governments. Nasir is included in the “Top 40 innovators shaping the future of financial services -2014” by The Wall Street Journal/Financial News.

Nasir has a BSc from the London School of Economics and is a Sloan Fellow from London Business School.