What are the most important transactions and litigations that you have been involved in during the last two years?

Over the past two years, I have been involved in several key strategic transactions and initiatives. Publicly announced examples include Swiss Re’s preparation for IPO and then subsequent sale of its subsidiary ReAssure Group Plc to Phoenix Group Holdings Plc valuing the business at £3.25bn. Following that, the Swiss Re group went through a restructuring. It involved creating a sole direct wholly owned operating subsidiary of the holding company, Swiss Re Ltd, which in turn has separate holding companies for the Business Units of Reinsurance and Corporate Solutions as well as the iptiQ division.

What impact did Brexit have on the financial Industry in Switzerland?

This very much depends on individual business models. Swiss-based global companies operating across jurisdictions with significant presence or reliance on the UK, particularly in regulated sectors like the financial industry, have probably been most impacted. It has been well documented that Brexit has led to restructuring businesses and moving people between locations to ensure business continuity. Our team was involved in the risk assessment, planning and execution of our internal Brexit project, and often this involved navigating regulations that were not clearly established and evolving. Many large multinationals in the financial industry faced significant complexity and cost in mitigating the regulatory risks associated with Brexit and will likely have to live with increased costs and complexity going forward. This could further increase if we start to see regulatory fragmentation between the EU and the UK over time as they try to gain competitive advantage as financial hubs. Furthermore, the populist sentiment stirred up by Brexit regarding Switzerland’s own relationship with the EU should not be underestimated and could yet end up having a knock-on effect for the Swiss financial industry.

Have any new laws, regulations or judicial decisions greatly impacted your company’s business or your legal practice?

One current focus area is sustainability and ESG regulation. Recently, there have been significant legal and regulatory developments in many aspects of ESG, particularly regarding disclosure requirements. A company like Swiss Re is impacted by ESG regulation across the whole value chain; the increased regulatory burden potentially increases a company’s legal risk profile as well as the costs and complexity of compliance. International companies are subject to standards that diverge between jurisdictions, including the increasingly stringent requirements of the EU and the UK as well as the lack of any standardised or coherent ESG regime in the US so far, and they will be the ones likely most affected by this ESG regulatory fragmentation.