THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

Sponsored By BRP Bizzozero & Partners SA

Patrick Genazzi,

CEO of BRP Bizzozero & Partners SA,

BRP Bizzozero & Partners SA

BRP Bizzozero & Partners SA is a Swiss based group with a presence in Geneva and Zurich and, abroad, in London, Luxembourg and Singapore. It is a world leading specialist in cross-border regulatory and compliance products. BRP is at the cutting-edge of financial services regulatory risk management and in particular cross-border risks. The quality of our products and related advice, as well as our responsiveness, are just some of the reasons that have led a large number of financial institutions to choose us as a provider of trusted, pragmatic and innovative solutions.

BRP aims to provide financial institutions such as banks and asset managers with the necessary skills, knowledge and know-how when dealing with cross-border issues, from daily routine questions to more complex regulatory risk analysis. No financial institution operating at an international level can nowadays deal with the current ever changing regulatory environment without a proper cross-border policy; our products and services offer a comprehensive and pragmatic solution to such challenges. The surge in regulatory activity over the past few years has led to a greatly increased volume of rules that are extremely complex and constantly evolving, that vary from one jurisdiction to another, and that must be understood and complied with equally both in the country where the intermediary is based and where the client is domiciled.

The BRP group is proud to include amongst our worldwide clientele more than 250 banks and banking groups and more than 500 independent financial advisors, asset managers and fund management companies.

Our success is the result of the high standards of expertise we have provided since our creation in 2010. This has been made possible by the professionalism and wide ranging experience of BRP staff.

Unlike bigger global players, our expertise is principally focused on the regulatory world and its ever-growing challenges. We only do what we do best and we never compromise our expertise with commercial considerations. Our products and services reflect this ethical state of mind. We offer each client an individualised approach, based on our comprehension of their needs and expectations when it comes to the risk management of their cross-border activities. This approach is two-sided; providing straight answers to allow our clients to be time-efficient whilst at the same time offering dedicated bespoke services to suit less generic needs.

When preparing our products we have access to an international network of over 500 experts in the regulatory and financial field (law firms, consulting firms, audit firms).

We like to break down an issue and analyse the various barriers to cross-border activity. Depending on the concerned country there are different rules to take into consideration, most often commercial law, financial services regulation, investor and consumer protection rules, rules governing foreign exchange controls, tax laws, AML and Data protection.

For ease of use and to address key risks, our products are grouped into four “pillars” that need to be considered when engaging in cross-border activity.

1. Country Manuals Services - Local licensing requirements for all aspects of cross-border financial services (including prospecting, negotiation and reporting) provided by financial institutions (such as banks, independent financial advisors or asset managers).
2. Country Manuals Products - Registration and documentation requirements (including marketing material) for the distribution of financial products such as equities, bonds, structured products, funds, derivatives, etc.
3. Country Manuals Suitability - Aspects to be considered for a suitable and appropriate allocation of financial products to clients according to local regulation.
4. Tax Investment Manuals -information about fiscal consequences of specific investments for the end clients (content provided by BRP Tax SA, an affiliated company of BRP Bizzozero & Partners SA)

We are leaders in cross-border regulatory risk and our banking material covers more than 150 countries. Countries are covered out of all countries (360° view) and we recognise differences in regulatory treatment, so for example, we have separate families of manual for non-EU banks targeting EU countries as compared to EU banks targeting EU countries.

BRP’s country manuals are available online via our Platform and Subscription includes, in addition to access to Country Manuals:

> Regular updates;

> Alerts;

> Hotline for comprehension questions;

> Access to the BRP address book of local lawyers.

Technology is key and we have developed the BRP Platform for our products.

This Platform aims to:

> Provide an accessible IT base for our products, not only Country Manuals but also Alerts;

> Improve efficiency;

> Provide a reliable Q&A function;

> Provide simple access to a document on screen as well as enabling its download;

> Allow remote access for banks staff such as Relationship Managers.

Access is free based on current contractual agreements.

Using the Platform clients may, for example:

> Run a search to look for relevant documents;

> Get a global view of available and relevant documents through search;

BRP also owns 50% of Indigita - a RegTech company specialized in developing technological solutions to meet ever-changing cross-border regulatory challenges. Indigita benefits from BRP’s regulatory expertise. With Indigita we are digitising our material so that answers to complex situation can be provided readily and BRP content can be integrated into a bank’s core systems.

We are closely monitoring developments in the EU especially with respect to the new third country regime under MiFID II and MiFIR. Brexit will have a significant impact on the EU authorities approach as to what is going to be permitted in terms services out of a third country. The MiFID 2/MiFIR regime was never intended to cover a large financial services player like the UK becoming a third country.

BRP Bizzozero & Partners SA

www.brpsa.com

info@brpsa.com

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