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On 1 October 2024, Baker McKenzie Luxembourg held its first DepoBank Day event bringing together over 120 market stakeholders, including the regulator, heads of depositary services, bank and custody experts to engage in meaningful discussions about custody and fund depositary laws and the essential duties and liabilities of depository banks.
Laurent Fessmann, Investment Funds leader at Baker McKenzie Luxembourg and the event's master of ceremonies, kicked off the conference by quoting the official EU Commission spokespersons in the aftermath of 2010 financial crisis:
“Too many failures, too many negligence were committed, YOU (depositaries) are the stakeholders which have to take back control over the funds operating processes. YOU (depositaries) are the servicing providers which are able to restore investor confidence”.
This half-day seminar provided a valuable platform to learn more about the state of the ongoing supervision of applied by the Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier and fact findings gathered following the insite inpesctions. The regulator was also queried on recent public release relating to the ex-ante controls for depositaries. ABBL gave a presentation of its new guidance paper on the depositary look-through duties and ALFI presented the post trade reduced settlement cycle (T+1). Heads eads of custody and depositary services had the occasion to expand and on their daily duties, liabilities and practical challenges.
With its impressive lineup of very senior and expert speakers form depositary and global custodians and thought-provoking discussions, DepoBank Day offered a unique opportunity for Luxembourg depositaries to connect, collaborate, and learn from each other.
Given the success of the event, there is a great likelyhodd that Baker McKenzie may decide to continue this expert dialogue session during a second edition next year.