Pierre E. Berger

He/himPartner

Pierre and his team have a deep understanding of the market and are passionate about digital finance. They spot new market trends at early stages and are keen to understand their legal implications and share their insights with clients.

Legal 500 2022

Emailpierre.berger@akd.partners

Call+32 (0) 3 287 2828

Antwerp

About

Pierre Berger is a corporate, financial services and insurance partner in the Firm’s Belgian offices with over 20 years' experience advising multinationals on all aspects of corporate, banking, funds, financial services and insurance law. Complex regulatory issues, regulatory driven strategic projects, global scaling of businesses and products, fund structuring, transactions & restructurings, regulatory enforcement, financial services and insurance litigation, as well as Brexit and FinTech related assignments are his core area of practice.

Pierre is the trusted advisor of international banking and insurance groups, as well as global FinTech players and technology companies entering the financial services space. He has a particular interest in the digitization of the financial services space, as well as the crypto and blockchain industry. Pierre heads the Firms Belgium financial services & insurance sector group. He is also heading the Firm’s global financial services (general) client group and is co-leading the Firm’s global financial services regulatory and global insurance regulatory product group.

Pierre regularly speaks and writes on corporate, financial services and insurance topics. He is a guest lecturer at Belgian universities. Pierre has been awarded with the Client Choice Award 2017 and 2018 for Banking in Belgium. He is also ranked as a leading individual by Legal 500, and highly regarded by Chambers and IFLR for EU regulatory financial services, FinTech, insurance and private equity. Who 's Who Legal mentions him as a global FinTech expert. AKD Partners recently won the Trends Legal Award for best law firm in banking, finance and insurance.

Pierre has a Law degree from University of Antwerp and KU Leuven and a Licentiate degree in Business Sciences from Lessius Hogeschool. He studied abroad in Amiens (France), Champaign (USA) and Berlin (Germany).

Areas of FocusFinancial Services Insurance Finance Litigation, Arbitration and Investigations Mergers and Acquisitions Restructuring

Professional QualificationsAdvocaat registered with the Orde van Advocaten te Antwerpen

EXPERIENCE

Assisted Belfius group with setting-up a strategic partnership with Proximus with an eye on developing an innovative combined product offering for banking and telecom products.
Assisted Argenta group with the investment of Argenta in Cake and the commercial partnership between Argenta and Cake, an open banking platform.
Assisted Unifiedpost group, an enabler of SME financial and document processes and a licensed payment services provider, with the global roll-out of their product-offering in 27 new markets by setting up local branches.
Assisted KBC group with its Bulgarian reorganisation project, which included preparatory share transfers and a cross-border merger between KBC AM and UBB AM.
Assisted Travelex AcquisitionCo (as seller) with the auction sale and purchase of the shares in Travelex.
Assisted Minna Technologies with its global scaling.
Assisted Visa with the Belgian regulatory aspects of the acquisition of Tink, a European open banking platform.
Assisted Alan, a French licensed InsurTech, with the set-up and development of its distribution network in Belgium.
Assisted ING group with various strategic and high-end commercial litigation matters.
Assisted several significant European banks with regulatory enforcement actions, including pleadings before regulatory enforcement bodies of ECB and local regulators, as well as before European and local courts.
Assisted Tioga Capital Partners with the regulatory, corporate and tax structuring and set-up of its private equity crypto funds.
Assisted Lloyd's of London with its relocation project to Belgium following Brexit (denotes experience at Pierre s previous firm).
Assisted several Lloyd's of London coverholders with their relocation across Europe following Brexit.
Assisted Athora group with the auction sale of the former Generali Belgium non-life business to Baloise group.
Assisted Amlin Insurance UK with the merger with Amlin Europe, and the relocation and licensing of the Societas Europaea (SE).
Assisted a major international reinsurer with various regulatory matters applicable to conducting reinsurance activities in Belgium.
Assisted a top-three Belgian combined life and non-life insurer with the sale of three worldwide run-off portfolios.
Assisted several significant Belgian banks and insurers with regulatory capital issuances and conversions.

Languages

Education

Lessius Hogeschool Antwerpen, Licentiate Business Sciences, 2005

University of Applied Sciences, Exchange Program Licentiate Business Sciences, 2003

Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Licentiate in Law, 2001

Publications

Crypto-assets regulation in Belgium
A new regulatory framework for the provision of certain crypto-asset services in Belgium
Digital Guide: industry-specific analyses of artificial intelligence
Round Table on Regulatory Framework for Virtual Asset Service Providers
Tokenized securities and blockchain: Opportunities of the DLT Pilot Regime
DORA: A harmonized framework to strengthen the digital operational resilience of the EU financial sector
Online financial services: Commission proposes to strengthen consumer protection
P. Berger, Oprichting van vennootschappen, 2021;
P. Berger, Chapter in: De NV in de praktijk, aflevering 193 – Witwassen van misdaadgeld, Juni 2021;
P. Berger, I. Van Biesen and M. Goossens, PEPPS in europe: Time to start thinking about a potential pan-european personal pension product offering, January 2021;
P. Berger and M. Van de Looverbosch, Chambers, Global Practice Guide – Blockchain 2020, 2020;
P. Berger and M. Goossens, Elektronisch online betalen, December 2020;
P. Berger, P. Kustermans and M. Goossens, Where true innovation and FinTech meet, December 2020;
P. Berger and M. Van de Looverbosch, Belgian chapter in: Thomas A. Frick (ed.), The Financial Technology Law Review (Edition 3), June 2020;
P. Berger and M. Van de Looverbosch, Chapter in: S. Adams Bhatti, S. Chishti a.o. (eds.), The LegalTech Book, June 2020;
Impact of COVID-19 on the financial services and insurance sectors, April 2020;
Belgian legislative proposal implementing the Shareholders’ Rights Directive II – new rules and impact, January 2020;
Lloyd's komt niet toevallig naar Brussel