Search for:

On 7 February 2023, our seminar “Current Global Sanctions Environment │The New Normal for Swiss Companies” took place in Zurich.

Baker McKenzie Switzerland‘s Christoph KurthPhilippe Reich and Meera Rolaz were hosting the well-attended event in Zurich on Tuesday evening, welcoming William Devaney, global co-chair of our Investigations, Compliance & Ethics practice at Baker McKenzie Washington D.C.; Sven Bates, special counsel in our London office; Terence Gilroy , partner in our New York office; and Olof König, partner in our Stockholm office.

The insightful discussion — always from a Swiss, UK, EU and US perspective — focused on:

  • Update on current EU/UK/US/Swiss sanctions
  • Key issues for financial institutions and companies in real economy
  • Engagement with sanctions regulators on key issues
  • Enforcement trends that have emerged and exposure of Swiss-headquartered companies and their staff
Author

Sven Bates is Of Counsel for International Trade at Baker McKenzie. He has spent the majority of his career at the Firm's London office, focusing on international trade compliance, trade remedies and anti-bribery. He has also practiced in Amsterdam and has previously worked for the European Commission and the Shadow Attorney General. Sven has extensive experience in particular in the financial services sector, and has undertaken secondments at a Tier 1 UK bank and the Lloyd's insurance market.

Author

William (Widge) Devaney is a partner in the Firm's North America Litigation and Government Enforcement Group in New York, co-chair of the North America Government Enforcement Practice and co-chair of the Global Investigations, Compliance & Ethics Practice.

Author

Terry Gilroy is a partner in the New York office of Baker McKenzie and a member of the Compliance and Investigations Practice Group. Prior to joining the Firm in 2018, Terry served as Americas Head of the Financial Crime Legal function at Barclays. Terry advises businesses and individuals on white collar and financial crime issues and has significant experience conducting investigations relating to compliance with the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and related bribery and corruption statutes, economic sanctions regulations as administered by the US Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), and the Bank Secrecy Act and related anti-money laundering (AML) regulations and statutes. Terry spent six years on active duty in the United States Army as a Field Artillery officer.

Author

Olof König is a member of Baker McKenzie's International Commercial & Trade Group in Stockholm. His main practice areas are export, import and sanctions compliance. Mr. König joined the Firm in 2010.

Author

Christoph Kurth heads the Investigations, Compliance & Ethics practice of the Swiss offices. Further, he is a member of the EMEA Steering Committee Compliance & Investigations and co-leads the EMEA Financial Institutions Industry Group. He has been recognized by Legal 500 as a leading individual for compliance, regulatory and investigation matters. Before joining the Firm, Christoph was global head of Litigation & Investigations and general counsel in Asia for a large Swiss bank. For over 10 years, he has led complex regulatory and criminal investigations as well as high stakes litigation across the US, Europe and Asia, and has advised on transformational regulatory developments and wealth management products and services across Switzerland and Asia. In his roles, Christoph has worked closely with business leaders, government authorities and the media, navigating businesses through regulatory and other challenges. Prior to this, Christoph was a litigator in leading practices in Switzerland and the US. Christoph also teaches post-graduate courses in 'Crisis Management' and 'Risk Governance' at the Europa Institute at the University of Zurich.

Author

Philippe Reich is a partner of Baker McKenzie Switzerland based in Zurich. He serves as head of the Firm's Antitrust, European and International Trade Practice Group in Switzerland. Philippe is a key member of the Firm's International Trade & Commerce and Antitrust & Competition Law Practice Groups. Philippe is regularly ranked as leader in his field in Who's Who Legal and is a recommended practitioner in Legal 500 and Chambers. In 2022, he was ranked among the top 100 foreign lawyers for India related matters. Philippe is also the European representative on the steering committee of Baker McKenzie's Global India Practice, chairman of the Swiss-Indian Chamber of Commerce and forms the India Desk of Baker McKenzie in Switzerland.

Author

Meera Cordelia Lara Rolaz is an Associate in Baker McKenzie's London office.

Write A Comment