Team size: 62

Sylvia Andriessen is the general counsel for Euronext and corporate secretary to the supervisory board of Euronext. She is based in Paris.

As general counsel, Sylvia Andriessen is also a member of the extended managing board for the Euronext Group. In these roles, she supports the Euronext Group strategy, particularly the ambitious ‘Growth for Impact 2024’ strategic plan that was announced in 2021 after the completion of the Group’s acquisition of the Borsa Italiana Group in April 2021. She contributes to ideas and decision-making on various complex portfolios, for example, organic growth and acquisitions, IT development and innovation, the position of shareholders, and sustainability. She is also Secretary to the Supervisory Board of Euronext.

Sylvia Andriessen is responsible for all legal, corporate secretarial, regulatory and advocacy matters.

Specifically, and as a matter of personal interest, she is also responsible for the ESG (Environment, Social and Governance) strategy at the Group level.

What are the most significant cases or transactions that your legal team has recently been involved in?

My team was closely involved in the largest acquisition in the history of Euronext – the Borsa Italiana Group – and the integration of the Oslo Stock Exchange, Euronext Securities Copenhagen and Nord Pool. The team was responsible for all legal aspects of these impactful acquisitions and subsequent integrations of businesses, strategies and talents.

The team is at the helm of managing all legal, regulatory, advocacy and corporate governance matters within a highly complex playing field. We are in close contact with regulators in all Euronext countries and the Euronext College of Regulators for the seven regulated markets. This College of Regulators brings together representatives of the regulators of the local markets to implement a coordinated approach for the supervision of these markets by promoting harmonised national regulations. All transactions mentioned above and subsequent integration processes required extensive discussions with the seven regulators, recently leading to a successful migration of Euronext’s regulated markets to the state-of-the-art data centre Aruba in Bergamo, Italy and the integration of Borsa Italiana’s cash, fixed income and warrants onto Euronext’s proprietary trading platform Optiq.

How do you see the general counsel role evolving in France over the next five-ten years?

The general counsel’s role depends on the type and size of the company. Still, in general, the general counsel in France is increasingly exposed to new requirements coming from EU regulations, like DORA, CDRD, and CSD. Cooperation with compliance and finance for reporting obligations shall become even more critical than it is today. More and more, you also see ESG responsibilities being added to the GC portfolio.

Have you used AI in your day-to-day work? If so, how useful do you find it?

I have had limited use of AI so far, mainly related to pilots in due diligence, but it can be a valuable support to in-house lawyers. In addition to cheaper solutions for due diligence, it can create efficiencies in policy and memo drafting, smarter contract- and know-how databases, document analysis and more. It will require thorough monitoring, though.

How do you suggest in-house lawyers build strong relationships with business partners?

The in-house lawyers should not wait until there is an issue that requires immediate involvement, but they should be involved in regular meetings of the various businesses. I have nominated dedicated lawyers for the most important business lines, and they attend weekly meetings. The in-house lawyers must obtain a thorough understanding of the business and the strategy.