Adina Lupu

• Share

Marc-André Bechet

Marc-André Bechet is Director Legal & Tax of ALFI, the Association of the Luxembourg Fund Industry. He joined the association in September 2014.

Before joining ALFI, Marc-André Bechet was Head of the Investment Funds Services at Banque Degroof Luxembourg, responsible for fund administration and custody. He was also a member of Banque Degroof’s Management Board.

Prior to joining Banque Degroof, Marc-André Bechet worked for 18 years at RBC Investor Services Bank S.A. in Luxembourg, where he held various senior positions including Head of Custody and Network Management, and Head of Business Development and Relationship Management, Legal and Compliance.

Mr. Bechet holds a Master’s degree in Business Administration from the University of Ottawa (Canada) and a Master's degree in Finance from the French business school ESCP in Paris. He speaks English, French, German and Luxembourgish.

• Share

François Drazdik

• Share

Anouk Agnes

Anouk Agnes is the Deputy General Director at ALFI, the Association of the Luxembourg Fund Industry since April 2012.

Before joining ALFI, Ms Agnes worked as an Advisor at the Ministry of Finance, with her main responsibilities related to the Government’s policy in favour of the development of the financial sector. As such, Ms Agnes acted as the Secretary of the High-level Committee for the Financial Centre and as Director of Strategy of Luxembourg for Finance, the Agency for the development of the financial centre.

She has furthermore been in charge of monitoring a number of projects in favour of microfinance, socially responsible investments and Islamic finance.

Before joining the Ministry of Finance, Ms Agnes worked in the field of development cooperation,i.e. for the Asian Development Bank and for Lux-Development.

Ms Agnes holds Master’s degrees in law and political science and is fluent in English, French, German and Luxembourgish.

• Share

Françoise Boettcher

• Share

Denise Voss

Denise Voss is the Chairman of ALFI, the Association of the Luxembourg Fund Industry.

Denise is Conducting Officer of Franklin Templeton Investments, she has worked in the financial industry in Luxembourg since 1990. She joined Franklin Templeton Investments in 1995 and is currently Conducting Officer and board member of Franklin Templeton International Services S.à r.l., a Luxembourg-based management company, managing both UCITS and AIFs, in and outside of the EU.

Prior to joining Franklin Templeton Investments, she worked in the audit division of Coopers & Lybrand in Boston, USA and Luxembourg for over 9 years. Denise holds a Massachusetts C.P.A. license and obtained an undergraduate degree from Tufts University, as well as a masters degree in accountancy from Bentley College.

• Share

Camille Thommes

Camille Thommes is the Director General of ALFI, the Association of the Luxembourg Fund Industry. He joined the association back in 2007.

Before ALFI, Camille Thommes was in in charge of the Investment Fund Department at the State and Savings Bank, Luxembourg (BCEE) from 2001-2006, after holding various senior positions in the Securities & Custody department since 1993. He started his professional career in 1986 at Banque Générale du Luxembourg (now BGL-BNP Paribas) where he held positions in the Securities and Custody Division.

He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Luxembourg Supervisory Authority (CSSF) and a member of the Consultative Committee for Prudential Regulation. Camille is also a member of the High-Level Committee of the Financial Centre set up by the Ministry of Finance. Furthermore, he represents ALFI at the Board of Directors of the European Fund and Asset Management association (EFAMA) and is a Board member of PROFIL SA and XBRL asbl.

Camille holds a Master’s Degree in Economics from the University Louis Pasteur in Strasbourg (France), completed the Accelerated Development Program at the London Business School and accomplished traineeships in London and New York.

A Luxembourg native, Camille is fluent in English, French and German.

• Share

A great deal of ALFI's work is carried out in Technical Committees and Forums. On a voluntary basis, representatives of ALFI members share practices and experiences, engage in research and develop ideas for streamlined approaches to industry matters. Sub-Committees focus on specific areas within a Committee's general field of work.

Forums serve as platforms for fund professionals to meet regularly, to exchange views on subjects of common interest and to analyse and monitor significant developments in the relevant area.

In addition, Working Groups are appointed by Committees, usually for a limited time, to tackle specific topics.

Some 1,800 ALFI members currently donate their time and expertise to around 170 ALFI Committees, Sub-Committees and Working Groups for the benefit of the entire Luxembourg fund industry.

Along with representatives from members who engage in the numerous Committees and Working Groups set up and organised by the association, ALFI's specialists in the legal and tax team work hard to coordinate these bodies' activities. The vast amount of output from the groups reflects the complexity and dynamic of the fund centre. The five lawyers and one tax specialist at ALFI also closely monitor all relevant legislative and regulatory developments and have summarised some of the major subject-matters below.

See a selection of topics they have been involved with lately.

 

  Marc-André Bechet | Director Legal & Tax, ALFI

Brexit

The UK and Luxembourg are long-standing partners in the fund industry. UK asset managers account for 17% of AuM in Luxembourg investment funds. What could Brexit mean in this context? [...]

ESA review

The Commission’s proposal to review the role of the three European Supervisory Authorities (ESAs) has attracted an unprecedented number of negative reactions from a broad range of public and private stakeholders in the vast majority of EU Member States [...]

 

  Evelyne Christiaens | Head of the Legal Department, ALFI

Anti-money laundering

A series of developments in anti-money laundering had to be monitored last year, in particular the publication of the ESA’s joint AML guidelines, the adoption of the law implementing the 4th AML directive in Luxembourg and the discussions on the 5th AML directive [...]

MIFID II

After a long legislative process, MiFID II is now applicable. Some practical issues remain, and further amendments of the directive to take into account environmental, social and corporate governance considerations are expected in the near future [...]               

           

      Francois Baratte | Senior Legal Advisor, ALFI        

EMIR refit proposal

In the context of the EMIR refit proposal issued by the Commission at the end of 2017, ALFI has advocated for a lighter reporting and clearing regime, as well as for an exemption from the collateral exchange requirement for physically settled FX forwards [...]

 

  Vilma Domenicucci | Senior Tax Advisor, ALFI

Anti-Tax Avoidance Directive

Counteracting aggressive tax planning is high on the EU legislator’s agenda [...]

CMU initiative

Through its CMU initiative, the Commission aims at unlocking long-term investment in Europe. One of the key components of this initiative is the removal of barriers to cross-border distribution of investment funds. The Luxembourg fund industry relies on cross-border distribution and has been a strong proponent of the Commission’s proposal [...]

Digital taxation

The Commission is intent on establishing an approach to fair and effective taxation of the digital economy [...]

 

  Susanne Weismüller | Senior Legal Advisor, ALFI

AIFMD review

Five years after AIFMD came into force, the time has come for a review of this directive. While the process is still at an early stage, the Commission has indicated that it will probably make limited, targeted changes to the existing framework [...]

GDPR

The General Data Protection Regulation is a fundamental re-thinking of the way business must deal with the data obtained from investors [...]

PRIIPs review

By 31 December 2018, the Commission is expected to review the PRIIPs regulation. Funds wonder whether to expect an extension of the one-year exemption from providing a UCITS KIID (or KIID-like) document [...]

 

  David Zackenfels | Senior Legal Advisor, ALFI

PEPP initiative

With its initiative for a pan-European personal pension product, the Commission is addressing a fundamental need of European citizens for second and third pillar retirement provisions [...]