Conference programme

As AI becomes integral to financial services, sound AI governance is emerging both as a regulatory expectation and a strategic necessity. This panel brings together regulators, leading practitioners, and major banks to discuss evolving supervisory approaches, accountability frameworks for senior management and the practical challenges of implementing effective board level and senior management oversight of AI systems.

This panel will explore what makes the U.S. markets attractive to foreign companies and which types of companies are most likely to move successfully. Specifically, the discussion will focus on the influence of the changing nature of public market investors and the growth of private capital in non-US listed markets and the impact of US regulatory and legislative changes (including a renewed focus on “foreign private issuers”) on the trend to access the U.S. markets including the pros and cons of exclusive US listings vs. dual listings.

Domestic leagues, international competitions, and clubs are enhancing their reach and require huge resources to compete in a global market. Modern sports stadiums have evolved from simple match venues into complex investment vehicles, creating unprecedented opportunities for institutional capital. The sports sector is attracting growing funding from the world's largest institutional funds and private capital groups, with Apollo recently announcing the launch of a $5 billion sports investment vehicle dedicated to lending to sports leagues and teams and acquiring stakes in clubs Mubadala sponsoring the creation of a National League in Brazil and KKR acquiring Arctos Partners for $1.4 billion. This session will explore the legal and financial models and vehicles that allows for sophisticated  and structured financing arrangements including Brazil’s SAF - Sociiedade Anoniima do Futebol. The discussion will examine how domestic leagues, clubs and international competitions can access private capital to achieve sustainable growth, respect all rules applicable to sports including fair play, whilst maintaining sporting competitiveness.

This panel will explore the prospects for an EU Capital Markets Union asking whether regulatory harmonisation failed and can succeed. The panellists will also focus on the legal and non-legal barriers (including regulatory, infrastructural, culture and mentality). In addition, it will be discussed whether the U.S. is rather a threat or an opportunity for the EU Capital Markets Union.

The current legal framework around ESG is a conundrum for financial actors. Legislative initiatives are starkly diverging, with actors facing sometimes more regulation, sometimes simplification and sometimes even deregulation. In parallel, complaints about greenwashing and calls for increased ESG accountability continue to fuel ESG litigation across the globe. Against this background, the panel will explore which ESG-related obligations remain relevant for regulated entities such as banks, asset managers and other financial service providers, which regulatory expectations are to be dealt with and which risks are to be addressed. The panel will compare market approaches, discuss implementation challenges and exchange practical insights.

This panel explores how schemes and restructuring plans are utilised to address complex restructurings of loans, debt instruments (such as promissory loans and bonds) and equity positions across various jurisdictions. Leading experts will discuss legal frameworks, recent developments, and practical challenges in the restructuring landscape, providing comparative insights into the approaches taken in different markets.

This panel will discuss how short selling is regulated across various jurisdictions and which regulatory approaches are most effective. The panellists will also explore short attacks and how one can defend against them and how one can distinguish genuine research reports from misleading attacks. Further the panel will discuss how regulators decide whether to investigate the short seller or the target company and why do they often get it wrong, also focusing on the challenges caused by regulatory fragmentation and variation.

Lender on lender violence” has moved from a US phenomenon to a global restructuring strategy, reshaping capital structures from New York to Paris and beyond. The panel will bring together US, European and cross-border perspectives to examine how uptiers, dropdowns, distressed disposals and co-operation agreements are being deployed and challenged across jurisdictions. It will explore whether courts, drafting and market discipline will curb these liability management tactics, and whether engineered creditor hierarchies are now a permanent feature of global finance.