ila resource center
In a crisis, when the stakes are high and scrutiny is intense, the board has a unique role: stepping in and taking big decisions that have a significant impact on the future of the organization.
At ILA, we have put together this resource center to help you navigate this exceptional situation.
Have a look at the upcoming virtual events organised by ILA, read the guidance from our working committees and check out other important events and news around the COVID-19 crisis.
ila virtual events calendar
ILA Coffee Chats
This webcast series is a new initiative aimed to be a regular show for Board members, general counsel, company secretaries and related governance professionals.
It aims to discuss topical issues relevant to Luxembourg Boardrooms and to the Luxembourg director and governance communities.
This series aims to be interactive and give a brief insight into topical issues. Where certain topics require more detail, various webinars are being created in parallel to dig deeper into various themes.
Please note that no CPD hours will be allocated to these chats.
The Coffee Chat sessions will be back in September after a short summer break!
ILA Coffee Chat 12: COVID-19: Managing current challenges in illiquid funds
22nd July
This chat was hosted by Monique Bachner, member of ILA Board of Directors, and moderated by Michael Hornsby, Former co-charman of the ILA Altenatives Taskforce, who was accompanied by:.
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Andrea Montresori, Partner, PwC
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Gilles Dusemon, Partner, Arendt & Medernach
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Hans-Juergen Schmitz, Managing Partner, Mangrove Capital Partners
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Keith Burman, Independent Director
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Peter Veldman, Head of Fund Management, EQT Fund Management
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Robert White, Partner, EY
This Coffee Chat focused on managing current challenges in illiquid funds (e.g. Real Estate, Private Equity, Infrastructure, Private Debt) in light of COVID-19. We exchanged thoughts on: Board responsibilities, Going concern related considerations, Liquidity in the context of open-ended funds, Transparency of disclosure to investors
The recording of this chat will be available soon
Past sessions
ILA Coffee Chat 01: “COVID-19 - What should Directors of Investment Funds and Investment Fund Managers be asking?"
This chat was hosted by Monique Bachner, ILA Board Member, who was joined by Keith Burman, Joachim Kuske and Yann Power.
Watch the session
Summary article of the session
Covid-19 – Questions for Investment Fund Directors and ManagersILA Coffee Chat 02: “COVID-19 - Cybersecurity for Directors"
This chat was hosted by Monique Bachner, ILA Board Member, who was joined by Christophe Bianco and Carlos Alberto Silva.
Watch the session
Summary articles of the session
Recommendations from Authorities on WFH in this current time
https://www.europol.europa.eu/staying-safe-during-covid-19-what-you-need-to-know
https://www.enisa.europa.eu/tips-for-cybersecurity-when-working-from-home
https://securitymadein.lu/news/covid-19-safety-and-cybersecurity-can-go-hand-in-hand/
Platforms to notify when facing a cyber incident (Fr and Lux)
Link to tools for personal security
Documents
ILA Coffee Chat 03: “Leadership during COVID 19: What should Boards be thinking about?"
This chat was hosted by Monique Bachner, ILA Board Member, who was joined by Luc Frieden, President of the Luxembourg Chamber of Commerce, and Carine Feipel, ILA Chair.
Watch the session
Summary article of the session
How should Board’s lead in times of crisis?
ILA Coffee Chat 04 : "Financial Statements, Audits and Audit Committees in times of crisis"
This chat was hosted by Monique Bachner, ILA Board Member, who was joined by Katrin Wehr-Seiter, Chair of the Audit and Risk Committee at SES S.A. and Managing Director at BIP Investment Partners, and Justin Griffiths, Chair of ILA’s Investment Fund Audit Committee.
Watch the session
Summary article of the session
ILA Coffee Chat 05: “Business Risk, Continuity & Protection: Thoughts for Boards on COVID-19"
This chat was hosted by Fernand Grulms, Member of the ILA Management Committee, who was joined by Jean-Philippe Peters, Thierry Flamand, Philippe Goutière, Laurent de la Vaissière and Anne-Sophie Minaldo.
Watch the session
Summary article of the session
ILA Coffee Chat 06: “Board Effectiveness and organization in a crisis"
This chat was hosted by Monique Bachner, Member of the ILA Management Committee, who was joined by Sinead Barry, Karen Wauters and John Li.
ILA Coffee Chat 07: "From thriving to surviving: Boards faced with financial difficulties"
This chat will be hosted by Monique Bachner, Member of the ILA Management Committee, who will be joined by Anne-Marie Nicolas, Finance and Restructuring Partner at Loyens & Loeff, Michael Rabinowicz, General Counsel at Mangrove Capital Partners, and Yves Courtois, Partner at KPMG.
ILA Coffee Chat 08: Covid-19: A call for Digital Transformation - How directors are driving digital strategy ?
ILA Coffee Chat 09: Listed companies and the Green Exchange
ILA Coffee Chat 10 : The role of Boards in Crisis planning and management
This Coffee Chat centered around the new ILA guide on crisis management*. We exchanged thoughts on:
how to prepare in advance to be well positioned when a crisis hits,
firefighting in the heat ion a crisis,
applying lessons learned post-crisis.
*This guide is only available to ILA members and will be published on ila.lu, in the publications section.
ILA Coffee Chat 11: “Remuneration of non-executive directors”
*This document is only available to ILA members and will be published on ila.lu, in the publications section.
Ila working COMMITTEE guidelines
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ILA Guide for Fund Directors overseeing the financial statement process during times of crisis
Investment Fund Audit Committee
In times of crisis, more than ever, the role of Boards is crucial in overseeing the financial statement preparation process and, if applicable, the audit cycle. Boards will undoubtedly be focusing their attention and efforts to guide the business through the crisis, such as the roll out of business continuity plans, in order to weather the storm.
This paper sets out guidance and recommendations of best practice for the Board to consider during times of crisis when seeking to discharge its duty to ensure that complete and accurate financial statements have been prepared in accordance with financial reporting standards and applicable Luxembourg rules and regulations.
Ethics, ESG and the Corona Age
Ethics in business is a long-term affair. It is also an unresolved question that practitioners, regulators, academics and politicians have struggled to answer in the aftermath of individual corporate scandals or societal crises such as the financial disaster that was 2008/09. Governance professionals and institutions such as ILA aim to influence business behaviour to be more responsible, predictable and trustworthy – in short, more “ethical”.
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Topics for Boards of Investment Fund Managers and Investment Funds to consider during the Coronavirus (Covid-19) disruption
In the context of the Coronavirus crisis, ILA’s Investment Fund Committee and the Alternatives Taskforce are publishing a guide identifying key topics which Boards of Investment Fund Managers (IFMs) and Investment Funds should, or may wish to, consider in the context of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) disruption. The document also provides a brief of summary of each topic and includes selected references for further reading. Some of the topics are also relevant for Service Providers to Funds and to IFMs.
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Governance of Luxembourg companies
Given the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Luxembourg Government, pursuant to article 32(4) of the Luxembourg Constitution, declared the state of emergency on 18 March 2020 for an initial period of three months, which has been confirmed by a law dated 24 March 2020.
COVID-19 measure- Extension of deadline for filing of annual accounts and related reports
Amongst the numerous legislative and regulatory measures adopted or to be adopted in the period of COVID crisis, a new bill of law is about to pass into law which shall assist companies to meet its ongoing obligations provided for under the law of 10 August 1915 on commercial companies (“Company Law”) and the law of 19 December 2002 on the register of commerce and companies and the accounting and annual accounts of undertakings (“2002 Law”).
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Electronic Signatures – What Boards should look out for
In these weeks and months marked by the corona virus and the entailing restrictions on physical meetings, Boards and companies are faced with practical issues in the implementation and recording of their decision taking.
Whilst a recent grand ducal regulation of 20 March 2020 enables companies in this crisis, to hold its shareholder meetings and meetings of management bodies exclusively in digital form, the issue of signing documents, agreements, resolutions or minutes of those digitally-held meetings remains.
information from ILA partners
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Thoughts and feelings from ila members
This section of the ILA website provides a platform to ILA members to share their views, opinions and thoughts in the current very special context.
Views, analyses and opinions appearing in this section are the sole responsibility of their author and shall not be considered as endorsed by ILA nor reflecting a ILA position. The views expressed by ILA members are their own and ILA shall not be held liable for the quality, the accuracy nor the opinions expressed therein.
“I dare to hope that we will not waste this crisis and get the wake-up call from nature!”
By Raymond Schadeck
In my article dated April 2nd (“I dare to hope that the world after COVID-19 will no longer be as it was ” ) I referred to, among others, the link between the current turmoil generated by COVID-19 and the effects of climate change. I also shared my deep hopes that with our full support as corporates and private citizens, decision makers “will dedicate the same energy and authority toward the development and deployment of a similar action plan to cure and save the lungs of our planet i.e. our forests and trees”. Indeed as Arundhati Roy, Indian author and environmental activist, puts it: “Historically, pandemics have forced humans to break with the past and imagine their world anew. This one is no different. It is a portal, a gateway between one world and the next.” Personally, I don’t see why this shouldn’t hold true in our current context, or why we should be too foolish to miss this opportunity to mend what is broken?
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Comment assurer la bonne gouvernance en temps de crise
By Paperjam with Carine Feipel and Luc Frieden
Au cours d’un débat virtuel entre Luc Frieden et Carine Feipel, l’Ila a posé les bases du rôle des conseils d’administration dans le contexte de la crise actuelle. La recette: soutenir plus qu’avant, mais respecter les frontières.
‘To have’ and ‘to be’ : what if we inverted our values ?
In my last article, when referring to Maslow’s famous pyramid of needs, I noted that in this period of crisis, basic primary needs tend to regain in importance at the expense of other more material and ancillary needs. I also expressed my hope that the moral reappreciation of certain professions, which have become the keystones of the management of this crisis, could serve as the basis for a thorough re-assessment of the real impact of all professions in our society and respective adjustments in remunerations.
Comment assurer son assemblée générale en confinement
By Paperjam, with Carine Feipel & Robert Scharfe
Un règlement grand-ducal autorise entreprises et asbl à tenir leur assemblée générale sans présence physique ou à la reporter jusqu’au 30 juin. Des mesures exceptionnelles qui imposent aussi de bien s’y préparer.
I dare to hope that the world after COVID-19 will not be the same anymore!
By Raymond Schadeck
An optimist by nature, I always have a tendency to try and imagine the manifold new opportunities that any situation, even a crisis of this magnitude, might reveal. This one is no exception. I am deeply convinced that the current health, economic, and financial crises offer plenty of such opportunities – it will be up to us to seize them once the crisis comes to an end. And I dare to believe that on an individual and collective basis we will seize at least some of them.
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COVID-19: fear and anxiety (25 March 2020)
By the University of Sydney
The situation around COVID-19 is evolving at an astounding rate. Thinking beyond the physical health ramifications to the mental health, anxiety, communication and sense-making aspects, our panel looks at what's going on and do their best to make sense of the rapidly shifting series of events.
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Board reactions to a crisis
By Reyhan Gulec
We have been going through rapidly unfolding events since the beginning of 2020. Now coronavirus has hit the world off guard for a while and it has its immediate domino effects. Most companies are stumbling with managing their ability to cope with the adverse impacts of the virus on their businesses. The boards still have their statutory and fiduciary duties in reacting to effects of coronavirus on their companies.
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Regulation on Virtual Meetings & Option to Use E-signatures
By Reyhan Gulec
Coronavirus has hit all the world and businesses around the globe. This scale health crisis requires rapid regulatory adjustments. Legislative bodies and regulatory authorities are trying their best to ensure the businesses run smoothly as much as possible with least human contact. Likewise, in Luxembourg, on 20th March 2020 a Grand Ducal regulation was published for virtual meetings in companies and other legal entities due to the state of emergency declared on 18 March 2020. Kindly keep in mind that this decree is applicable mutatis mutandis to all other legal entities
Talk to us
If you have suggestions about topics to be discussed in our ILA Coffee Chats, if you would like to ask questions to our working committees or need guidance in a specific situation you or your board is facing, and/or if you want to share an interesting article, podcast, etc. with the ILA community, don't hesitate to drop us a note on the link below, it is anonymous!