Drawing upon the subject matter knowledge of several lawyers from across the firm’s full-service offering with regulatory and transactional insurance expertise, the ‘friendly and reactive’ multi-disciplinary team at Allen & Overy Luxembourg handles a wide range and volume of significant mandates in the sector. Team head Paul Péporté has ‘excellent technical knowledge’, enabling him to provide an effective overlay of the regulatory considerations pursuant to the establishment of insurance companies in Luxembourg, as well as those relating to insurance company restructurings and insurance products distribution. Pierre Schleimer also has deep regulatory knowledge in relation to insurance and reinsurance matters.
Insurance in Luxembourg
Allen & Overy Luxembourg
Practice head(s):
Other key lawyers:
Testimonials
‘The team is friendly and reactive.’
‘The team make themselves available for their clients. They are prompt in answering our questions, and/or quick to recontact us. In case of absence or holiday, a good handover is made to other colleagues.’
‘I had the opportunity to attend a few presentations about several topics, and they were always interesting, as the speakers provided advice and market comparisons, which went beyond a simple reading of the law.’
‘Paul Peporte has excellent technical knowledge.’
Arendt & Medernach
The ‘responsive, credible and attentive’ team at Arendt & Medernach has ‘excellent legal knowledge and a very good understanding of the insurance business’, enabling it to effectuate ‘solutions-oriented’ advice in a standalone advisory context, pursuant to M&A, and in a contentious setting. Closely attuned to the expectations of the regulator, team head Pierre-Michaël de Waersegger has ‘in-depth knowledge of the domestic market’ and is therefore a very effective resource/sounding board to clients across a range of transactional and advisory work in the sector. Litigation partner Christian Point regularly advises on coverage disputes, as well as on policy wording.
Other key lawyers:
Testimonials
‘The firm offers legal counselling and legal defence in insurance claims in a very professional manner. In particular, we appreciate its approach in seeking a pre-court/extrajudicial solution.’
‘The team is very responsive and makes a real effort to understand our operations and the factors affecting our business. Reliable, credible and attentive.’
‘They are solutions-oriented, and understand the nuances of the Luxembourg law.’
‘They have an excellent legal knowledge and a very good understanding of the insurance business. Their answers are always competent, clear and friendly.’
‘The Arendt insurance team shows a thorough understanding of international life insurance issues. They provided us not only with Luxembourg legal input, but also challenged positions taken by foreign lawyers and gave valuable strategic input.’
‘The firm has built a leading pool of practitioners with high level of expertise in a broad range of legal areas. They have a good knowledge of the regulators’ expectations and offer seamless legal services.’
‘Pierre-Michael de Waersegger is a key practitioner in the insurance sector and has an in-depth knowledge of the domestic market. He is engaged in the local insurance industry and provides legal and regulatory support to various organisations in the market.’
Key clients
RSA Insurance Group
TransRe
FWU Life
AIG
SwissRe
Liberty Mutual Specialty Market
Tokio Marine
Foyer Assurance
Crédit Agricole Life Insurance
Hyperion Group
Credit Suisse
Edmond de Rothschild group
West of England
BarentsRe
CNA Hardy
MunichRe
DARAG
Lombard International Assurance
Work highlights
- Appointed as special legal counsel as per Luxembourg law to assist Assicurazioni Generali in the context of a recently launched voluntary tender offer on all the shares of Società Cattolica di Assicurazione.
- Assisted on all Luxembourg insurance law and regulatory aspects regarding the Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and Peugeot S.A. (PSA) merger.
- Assisted the Bourbon group, a world leader in marine services for offshore oil and gas, in the context of a global financial restructuring process, on the regulatory aspects of the related change in qualifying shareholding triggered at the level of a Luxembourg reinsurance group entity and related required regulatory filings.
Philippe & Partners
Offering strong regional expertise and a broad knowledge of the insurance space, Philippe & Partners advises insurers, intermediaries, and financial services providers on the creation and release of new products, internal regulatory and compliance issues, and wider corporate issues, including insurance sector mergers, disputes, and corporate governance issues. The team is led by Marc Gouden, an experienced practitioner whose contentious and non-contentious insurance expertise includes specialist knowledge of life insurance, cross-border insurance matters, and distribution issues, alongside Pierre Moreau . The team divides its time between Luxembourg and Belgium.
Practice head(s):
Marc Gouden; Pierre Moreau
Pinsent Masons
Pinsent Masons entered the market in July 2022 following its recruitment of a number of former Wildgen partners and teams. The ‘agile, proactive and professional’ team demonstrates ‘great dedication to the industry sector’, ensuring that it is well-positioned to advise stakeholders across the waterfront of aspects impacting clients in the life insurance, non-life insurance and reinsurance sectors. Michel Bulach heads the team and is particularly accomplished advising on M&A in the sector, as well as on establishment and operational matters. Since publication, Karine Vilret left the firm.
Practice head(s):
Michel Bulach
Other key lawyers:
Giuseppe Cafiero; Silvia Bracaloni
Testimonials
‘The firm displays great know-how and has great customer relationship skills.’
‘The team is agile, professional and proactive.’
‘Giuseppe Cafiero has a perfect command of various information, corporate governance, company law and insurance law. I appreciate his availability and professionalism.’
Key clients
Allianz Life Luxembourg
Aviva Plc
Bâloise Group Luxembourg
CAMCA ASSURANCE S.A.
CAMCA REASSURANCE S.A.
La Mondiale Europartner Luxembourg S.A.
Lombard International Assurance
PICTET
Risk and Reinsurance Solutions (2RS)
SIACI Saint-Honoré
SI Insurance
Sompo Intl
Suez Group
Swiss Life France
Wealins S.A.
ICM Life S.A.
Work highlights
- Represented Bâloise Vie Luxembourg S.A. in numerous disputes including in the successful defence of a class action of 31 Luxembourgish and Belgian applicants.
- Advised Aviva Plc, a United Kingdom regulated insurance entity, on the continuity of cross-border activities in Luxembourg after Brexit and in accordance with European and Luxembourg regulations.
- Advised Monument Assurance Luxembourg on the acquisition of AME Life Luxembourg from French Mutual Insurance Group Covéa.
Clifford Chance
Led by corporate partner Christian Kremer, Clifford Chance‘s multi-disciplinary insurance group leverages strong relationships with the domestic regulatory body and those throughout Europe to good effect, particularly in relation to M&A in the sector, reorganisations and on the establishment of Luxembourg subsidiaries.
Other key lawyers:
Key clients
Swiss Re
AIG
Allianz
Axa
Premia
Work highlights
- Providing insurance and corporate advice to Swiss Re on the reinsurance agreement and legal advice on the collateral arrangements as part of the entry into a longevity risk reinsurance transaction of Dutch insurer NN Group with Swiss Re.
- Advised a major foreign insurance company and its subsidiaries in relation to their acquisition by way of takeover offer on the target insurance group parent company of an indirect control stake in a Luxembourg insurance undertaking.
- Advised a major insurance and reinsurance group with Luxembourg licensed (re-)insurance undertaking presence in relation to the internal multistep reorganisation of their business divisions.
CMS
Benefiting from a ‘detailed technical knowledge of insurance-related legal matters and regulatory requirements’, CMS is a popular choice among clients to advise not only on purely domestic matters, but also on multi-jurisdictional mandates (where it is able to effectively leverage the firm’s vast international network). ‘Experienced and knowledgeable’ banking and finance partner Vivian Walry heads up the overarching multi-disciplinary team that also includes Benjamin Bada, who has ‘great knowledge of local requirements in respect of drafting insurance policy conditions’.
Practice head(s):
Testimonials
‘The team has detailed technical knowledge of insurance-related legal matters and regulatory requirements. It always endeavours to provide solutions that are tailor-made to our business and its size brings a welcomed personal touch.’
‘This is a capable and efficient team with great knowledge of the local legal requirements in respect of drafting insurance policy conditions.’
‘Benjamin Bada has great expertise in insurance-related legal matters. He is always available and engaged.’
‘Benjamin Bada is pragmatic and committed to the task and provides clear explanations for their amendments to the policy conditions.’
‘Vivian Walry is experienced and knowledgeable.’
Key clients
Allianz
Aon
Zurich
Chubb
AXA
AIG
Liberty Mutual Insurance Europe SE
Bupa
KLEYR GRASSO
KLEYR GRASSO provides ‘high levels of legal competence’ at handling insurance-related disputes and is noted for its willingness to seek out-of-court settlements for its clients, ‘if it is economically advisable to do so’. Henry De Ron heads the team alongside Rosario Grasso and is noted in particular for his aptitude at handling construction-related insurance disputes.
Testimonials
‘A very competent and multilingual team with high legal competence. They are also focused on finding an out-of-court solution if it is economically advisable for the client.’
MOLITOR Avocats à la Cour SARL
Leveraging its overarching litigation credentials, MOLITOR Avocats à la Cour SARL
is ‘experienced and responsive’ at advising insurers and insureds in coverage disputes. Michel Molitor
heads the team.
Practice head(s):
Other key lawyers:
Testimonials
‘They are experienced and responsive.’