How the eurozone crisis will shape the Asia corporate counsel agenda
The Asialaw Asia-Pacific In-house Counsel Summit is now in its ninth year, and is firmly established as the leading event in the region dedicated to this increasingly influential community. The Summit is held in Hong Kong over two days, and attracts delegates from across the Asia-Pacific and around the world.
The second half of 2011 was painful for the global economy. As overall risks to eurozone financial stability increased considerably, the growing and very real threat of global contagion spooked investors around the world.
Banks with exposure to European sovereign debt are facing higher borrowing costs, while the economies of countries with strong trade links to Europe are being severely impacted.
Asia will not escape the contagion. China and India, the region’s two brightest performing economies, were already in slowdown mode before the eurozone debt crisis gathered momentum. Both jurisdictions have huge trade exposure to Europe.
Hong Kong meanwhile closed 2011 as the world’s leading destination for new listings – the third time in as many years it has achieved this feat. But the rush of late listings could not disguise the fact that 2011 was also a very tough year for the SAR, as evidenced by the scale of new IPOs which were almost half that of 2010.
In this context, in-house legal departments in Asia are grappling with shrinking staff numbers and increasing workloads amidst company-wide budget cuts. And in this ‘listed’ environment, corporate counsel are having to balance the short-term shareholder-friendly agendas of boards with longer risk management timelines.
Challenges today include navigating an increasingly global and pervasive regulatory environment – in areas such as corruption and financial transparency – that is enforced by regulators armed with unequivocal government mandates. Pre-emptive measures are necessary to ensure that companies monitor and address the compliance risks they face.
In line with such a context, the 2012 Asialaw Asia-Pacific In-house Counsel Summit will tackle, among others, the following issues pertinent to the daily lives of corporate counsel in the region:
• How to deal with counterparty risk and obligations in supply and manufacturing contracts if the eurozone crisis escalates
• What debt refinancings and restructurings will look like in 2012
• Employment law challenges with downsizing and outsourcing – prospects of a four-day week
• How to cope with increased regulatory scrutiny
• Do’s and don’ts with corporate governance duties
• Hoe to develop ‘soft’ skills and maximise your growing influence over C-Suites
• Balancing your role as manager and lawyer
• UK Bribery Act first prosecution – suggests a ‘low-hanging fruit’ focus or now easier to bring prosecutions for all kinds of corrupt activity
• How to ensure your anti-corruption compliance programmes are up to date and actively implemented
• How to minimise franchise risk
• FDI into Africa, India, Korea, Russia and Eastern Europe, South America, Taiwan, Turkey and the Philippines – the legal and regulatory framework that foreign investors need to be aware of
• How recent amendments to Korea’s Commercial Code will impact your business
• Prospects for private equity – can Asia retain its light-touch approach to regulation
• Mediation in Hong Kong – still the best method for capping costs in arbitration
Registration & Fees:
In-house counsel / Corporate executive: FREE
Private practice / Professional: USD1495
Registration is required. Please click here or go to www.asialaw.com/inhouse2012 to complete the online booking form.