Henri Wagner
Partner
Luxembourg
Henri Wagner
Partner
Luxembourg
Contact Details
Henri heads the Luxembourg Banking practice. He served from 2008 to 2018 as Managing Partner of Allen & Overy in Luxembourg.
He specialises in international banking and financial services regulatory matters including the establishment of banks, financial services professionals and electronic money institutions as well as MiFID, CRD and related regulatory issues. He has more than 30 years of experience working in these areas.
Henri is a member of the board of directors of the Luxembourg Bankers' Association (ABBL). Henri is a member of the banking and capital markets committees of the Luxembourg supervisory authority of the financial sector (Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier – CSSF). He is also a member of the MiFID Steering Committee, the Legal Affairs Committee and the Banking Supervision Committees of the ABBL. Henri co-chairs the PSF working group and the payment institutions and electronic money institutions working groups of the Haut Comité de la Place Financière (HCPF). Henri was a member (2009-2015) of the Consultative Working Group of the Corporate Finance Standing Committee of the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA).
He is an active member of our FinTech task force, supporting clients from established financial institutions, incumbents and start-ups in developing innovative products.
He regularly publishes articles on banking and finance issues and represents Luxembourg on the advisory board of the Capital Markets Law Journal (published by Oxford University Press).
Henri is one of only a few practitioners to be ranked in the Legal 500 Hall of Fame for Banking, finance and capital markets.
“.. Henri Wagner acts on the full range of capital markets transactions, and on banking matters more broadly. […] One source enthuses: ‘I rate him for sure. He has a very strong knowledge of the market and business’.” Chambers Global
Qualifications
Professional
Admitted as avocat à la Cour, Luxembourg, 1993
Admitted as avocat, Luxembourg, 1990
Academic
DESS, Banking & Finance Law, Université Panthéon-Sorbonne (Paris I), 1990
Maîtrise, Private Law, University of Strasbourg, 1989
Studies, Institute for Comparative Law of Strasbourg, 1989
Related articles
Publications: 02 June 2022
Regulatory monitoring: EU Version
Our monthly regulatory newsletter monitors all relevant developments regarding European regulatory law in English language.
Blog Post: 01 June 2022
Governance within smaller banks - key takeaways from the ECB thematic review
Publications: 01 June 2022
Publications: 28 April 2022
New CSSF circular on outsourcing arrangements – what will change for you
Qualifications
Professional
Admitted as avocat à la Cour, Luxembourg, 1993
Admitted as avocat, Luxembourg, 1990
Academic
DESS, Banking & Finance Law, Université Panthéon-Sorbonne (Paris I), 1990
Maîtrise, Private Law, University of Strasbourg, 1989
Studies, Institute for Comparative Law of Strasbourg, 1989
Experience highlights
Advising Ares Management on its European CLO business and the setting up of a Luxembourg platform pursuing investment activities in respect of senior secured European leveraged loans and sub-investment grade bonds, securitisation of assets on its balance sheet and investments in majority CLO Equity positions of European CLOs while qualifying as an "Originator" for the purposes of the CRD IV Regulation.
Advising China Construction Bank and Agricultural Bank of China, in setting up, respectively in Luxembourg, a subsidiary as their European headquarters, and a branch. We helped both banks obtain the license from the Ministry of Finance in Luxembourg for their Luxembourg subsidiary and branch. The project was broad in nature and encompassed (among others) aspects such as regulatory advice for the purpose of the license, EU passport, corporate steps, IT-IP, data protection, immigration, labour law and real estate.
Advising EFG Luxembourg regarding the issue of AT1 notes to another entity of the group, in order to finance the acquisition of the Luxembourg-based credit institution, UBI Banca International (Luxembourg).
Advising the initial purchasers (Credit Suisse Securities (Europe), Goldman Sachs International, Citigroup Global Markets, and ING Bank, London) and the arrangers (Credit Suisse Securities, London, Goldman Sachs International, Citigroup Global Markets and ING Bank, a branch of ING-DiBa) on the acquisition by Permira of the German debt collector GFKL from Advent. For the purposes of the acquisition, funding was provided to a Luxembourg entity of the Permira Group, together with the issuance of EUR365,000,000 senior secured notes due 2022, listed on the Euro MTF market of the Luxembourg stock exchange.
Pro bono
- Member of the Allen & Overy team advising the Croix Rouge (Red Cross)
Published work
- Author, (2019) ""ICOs – Luxembourg Legal Aspects”, in Les services financiers dans un monde digital, p.51-60, Anthemis
- Co-author, (2021) ""The International Capital Markets Review"", Law Business Research.
- Co-author, (2021) ""The Lending and Secured Finance Review"", Law Business Research.
- Author, (2018) Brexit unleashes new wave of US corporate migration, Luxembourg Business Report.
- Co-author, (2017) Preliminary documents (loan financing) Q&A: Luxembourg, Practical Law – Cross-border Loan financing, Thomson Reuters.
- Co-author, (2017) Corporate loan facilities Q&A: Luxembourg, Practical Law – Cross-border Loan financing, Thomson Reuters.
- Le banquier luxembourgeois et le droit international privé"", Anthemis, 2017 (co-author)
- ""Expedited Corporate Debt Restructuring in the EU"", Oxford University Press, 2015 (co-author)
- ""High Tide for the Issue of High Yield Bonds in Luxembourg"", Bulletin Droit et Banque No. 50, December 2012 (co-author)
- ""Enforcing financial collateral arrangements in the new world - challenging times!"", Bulletin Droit et Banque, No. 47, April 2011 (co-author)
- ""Debt buy-backs and liability management revisited"", Bulletin Droit et Banque No. 46, November 2010 (co-author)
- ""Debt Buy-Backs and Liability Management: New Buzzwords ?"" Bulletin Droit et Banque No. 44, October 2009 (co-author)
- ""Set-off Law and Practice, an International Handbook"", second edition - Luxembourg Chapter, edited by William Johnston and Thomas Werlen, Oxford University Press, September 2009
- ""Regulated covered bonds: a comparative review"", Capital Markets Law Journal, Oxford University Press, Vol. 4, No. 3, July 2009 (co-author)
- ""Financial Services Regulation in Europe"", second edition - Luxembourg chapter, Oxford University Press, November 2008
Recognition
excellent
Legal 500, 2018 (Banking, Finance and Capital Markets)
His technical and legal advice is excellent. He is business-oriented, pragmatic and client-centric.
Chambers Europe, 2018 (Banking & Finance)
He gives good commercial and contextualised advice
Chambers Global, 2018 (Capital Markets)
Allen & Overy Luxembourg’s four-partner team provides an ‘all-encompassing’ service to lenders, funds and corporates across the full range of transactional and regulatory banking and capital markets matters. The team excels in cross-border work, and is able to tap into the expertise of practitioners in all the major financial centres; Henri Wagner recently worked alongside the London office advising the arranger on an international financing.
Legal 500, 2017 (Banking, Finance and Capital Markets)
