Banking, Finance and securities Green Finance: How to prevent greenwashing

Stephane Karolczuk is international fund formation lawyer, based in Brussels (2001), Luxembourg (2005) and Hong Kong (since 2009), where he advises international clients regarding their investment funds legal and regulatory questions in the EU and the APAC region. He is admitted to practice in Brussels, Luxembourg and Hong Kong (as Registered Foreign Lawyer).

Stephane advises international clients on all issues relating to investment funds, such as the selection, structuring, registration, marketing (primarily in the EU and Asia), offering and listing of investment funds, across the range of Private Equity, Real Estate, Private Debt and Credit, Hedge Funds, and generally all alternative investment funds. He assists clients in relation to the setting-up of these investment fund structures, the negotiation of the contractual and marketing documentation and, when applicable, liaises with the relevant financial regulators in relation to such matters. Stephane also looks after mutual funds clients (UCITS) and their needs in the APAC region in particular regarding local registration requirements.

Given his location, Stephane specializes as well in strategies involving investments in the APAC region, questions relating to the distribution of funds in the APAC region as well as channels to access the PRC capital markets (QFII, RQFII, Stock Connect, Bond Connect, QDII, QDII2, QDIE, QDLP, etc.) from an investment management perspective.

In 2008, Stephane was seconded to New York of his firm, headquartered in Luxembourg, in view of developing an Investment Management Helpdesk advising US clients in relation to Luxembourg investment funds questions. In 2009, he established the Asia Pacific office of the firm based in Hong Kong and led the Asian strategy and Hong Kong office of the firm until 2024.

Stephane has taken part in the activities of the Association of the Luxembourg Fund Industry (ALFI), the Hong Kong Investment Funds Association (HKIFA), the Hong Kong Private Equity and Venture Capital Association (HKVCA), and he is regularly invited to speak on European investment management related topics at conferences in the region.

Stephane graduated cum laude from the University of Brussels Law School (2001). He did a Master in Financial and Commercial Law at the University of Gent in partnership with the Vlerick Business School (2002).

Biography

Kenichi Tanizaki, a Senior Partner of Atsumi & Sakai, Attorneys-at-Law (Japan), is qualified to practice law in Japan and New York. He currently co-heads the firm’s Project Finance Team and the Derivative Team. He has experience advising major banks and financial institutions, fintech companies and venture capitalists on a wide range of banking and finance matters, including (i) API deployed by a bank, a securities firm, or an insurance company, (ii) cashless settlement, (iii) money transfer service, (iv) the regulatory, compliance and AML/CFT issues and (v) other innovative services (e.g., emerging technologies, digital economy, AI, data protection, data usage). Prior to joining Atsumi & Sakai, he worked at one of Japan’s major banks, where he handled a wide range of banking transactions and services.
He presented seminars on financial regulations, fintech and financial transactions at domestic and international financial institutions, as well as at seminar companies. He holds an LL.B degree from Kyoto University, an LL.M degree from Northwestern University School of Law and a J.D. from Omiya Law School.

Shubhangi Garg is a partner with the debt capital markets and banking & finance practice group of the Firm.
She specialises in debt capital markets, structured finance and FinTech. She has extensive experience in the banking space (both regulatory and investment), syndicated financings, dollar bond issuances, acquisition finance, leverage finance as well as debt investments by foreign portfolio investors. She routinely advises clients on listed and unlisted NCD issuances by InvITs and REITs. She also has experience in advising on private equity and foreign direct investment in the FinTech and payments space and routinely advises Indian and international corporates on the regulatory framework governing digital payment products.

Eu Jin Ong, a partner of Rosli Dahlan Saravana Partnership, Malaysia, is active in equity capital markets and has advised companies on their IPOs and listing on the stock exchange of Malaysia and Hong Kong. He is admitted as an advocate and solicitor (West Malaysia) and a solicitor (England & Wales).
On the Mergers and Acquisitions front, he has advised on a number of multi-million ringgit acquisitions in respect of both listed and unlisted companies as well as mandatory and voluntary general offers.
As part of his banking and debt capital markets practice, he has advised on serial bond issuances and commercial paper/medium term note programmes. Notably, Eu Jin was the Malaysian counsel for the issuance of Samurai bonds in the aggregate principal amount of ¥200 billion by the Government of Malaysia in 2019.
Eu Jin was a panellist at law conferences held in Tokyo, Sydney, Dubai, Hong Kong, Singapore, Siem Reap, Manila, Colombo and Bengaluru.