Hedge Fund Awards 2016

Hedge Fund Awards 2016 77 ~ Best Swiss Banking Law Firm 2016 & Recognised Leader in Regulatory Finance Law - Switzerland ‘Lecocqassociate’ is a boutique Swiss law firm with its main office in Switzerland, and with corporate and finance regulatory presence in Malta and United Arab Emirates. Dominique Lecoq, Managing Partner, spoke with us recently to give us further insights into his Law Firm We specialize in selected areas, including regulatory banking, collective investments, corporate finance, regu- latory insurance, Islamic finance and private equity. With regulatory banking and broker-dealing operations in Malta, the UAE as well as here in Switzerland, we are fully prepared to offer services in structuring operations including maintaining compliance and anti-money laundering functions. We also advise on all banking regulatory aspects such as including drafting of all internal required directives, best practice circulars, internal controls and risk management, banking secrecy and cross border transactions and solutions. When working in collective investment schemes, exchange traded funds or exchange traded commodities, our services revolve around the incorporations, structuring and licensing of Swiss, Maltese, Cayman Islands, Luxembourg, the United States and Emirates (mainland and Free Zones) funds. We advise on investment management and investment advisory agreements. Additionally, we review and advise on all service provider agreements including prime brokerage agreements, ISDA, OSLA, custodian agreements and administration agreements. Rounding out our services in this area we prepare fund prospectuses, term sheets and all other related documents. Switzerland is the ideal location for making our headquarters. The Swiss private banking model is based of two regulatory licenses. A banking license will allow the bank to take deposit from the public and extend credit (by exposing its balance sheet) to refinance or bank or to finance customer. A broker dealer license will allow the bank to operate private banking and asset management operations, including by trading on a profession- al basis as agent on behalf of customers and becoming clearing member of clearing houses and regulated exchanges. This allows the private bank to operate accounts for these customers for the settlement of securities trans- actions, and hold securities of these customers in safekeeping or in their own name with third parties. The brokerage license will allow the bank to underwrite securities. Because the broker dealer license encompasses the type of work many private banking and asset management undertake, a private bank will inevitably have to apply and obtain both the banking license and the broker dealer license. Dominique Lecocq graduated from the School of Law of the University of Geneva in 1999 and obtained a Master of Laws in Securities and Financial Regulation from Georgetown University in 2005. Before founding Lecocqassociate,inj 2007, Dominique served with the London office of Radcliffes Solicitors, worked as a foreign associate with Pinheiro Neto, Advogados in Brazil; joined the Regulatory and Capital Market Practice Group of Pestalozzi law firm in Geneva and Zurich as an associate and interned with the Commodities Futures Trading Commission in Washington DC; he served with the Corporate Finance and Regulatory Practice Group of Schellenberg Wittmer, in Geneva. Company: lecocqassociate Contact name: Dominique Lecocq Email: [email protected] Telephone: 0041 22 707 93 33 lecocqassociate