William J. Kelly, CAIA’s Post

In light of Keir Starmer's receipt of gifts including clothing, football tickets, his ministers receiving football tickets, Taylor Swift tickets etc, I thought I'd share the big news out of Singapore which has hit the international media. Iswaran was a minister of transport with the strict Singapore government. There were up to 30 charges against him for corruption, including receiving gifts. The charges have been dropped to 5. He pled guilty. The FT reports (link in comments): "... the kickbacks allegedly included tickets to English Premier League football matches, Formula One races and plays including Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Hamilton and Kinky Boots, as well as a business-class flight from Doha to Singapore in 2022. "Singapore’s Attorney-General’s Chambers said in a statement that the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau had seized items in its investigation including wine, whisky, golf clubs and a Brompton T Line bicycle. It added that Iswaran had forfeited S$380,305.95 to the government to account for the value of gifts including event tickets and alcohol. "The CPIB has said Iswaran received some of the alleged bribes from Ong Beng Seng, one of the city-state’s most high-profile property tycoons, for “advancing (his) business interests”. Ong has not been charged. Singapore prides itself on its clean image and ranks higher on Transparency International's Corruption Perception Index, compared to the UK and USA. Do you think Singapore's approach to corruption, bribery and gift giving should be applied in the UK? Image: FT headline Singapore's former transport minister pleads guilty to receiving gifts. #BusinessEthics #Gifts #AntiCorruption

It's not you looking at concentration: is Concentration that looks back you. Cognitive dissonance as #Brussels #Frankfurt muse with banking Mergers & Acquisitions while keeping appearances of inclusion & consumer rights. Something's got to give. And in the small "peripheral" European economies competition authorities are now subject to (Very Real) crunching pressures. A great honour to see in this news report my name close to Vinay Pranjivan, a renowned specialist and an expert in several institutional circles in Europe. ISCTE - Instituto Universitário de Lisboa ISCTE Business School BRU- Iscte REM - Research in Economics and Mathematics University of Sussex Science Policy Research Unit (SPRU) University of Sussex University of Sussex Business School Economia Insubria Università degli Studi dell'Insubria DPL News Autoridade da Concorrência (AdC) - Portuguese Competition Authority ERSE CEPS - Centre d'étude et de prospective stratégique CNMC (Comisión Nacional de los Mercados y la Competencia) EU Competition Policy Federal Trade Commission Kilpailu- ja kuluttajavirasto (KKV) Autorité de la concurrence Competition & Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) Swedish Competition Authority Consiliul Concurenţei Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications (BEREC) The Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets Competition and Markets Authority DECO - Portuguese Association for Consumer Protection European Digital Media Observatory European Consumer Claims European Consumer Centre Belgium EYL40 European Young Leaders BBVA Banco Sabadell Still the aftermath of my participation in the 2024 event of CMVM - Comissão do Mercado de Valores Mobiliários.

Grateful to have shared the stage today with Benjamin Ullrich from YPOG, Berlin, Emma Dansbo from Cirio Law Firm, Stockholm, Noreen Weiss from gunnercooke, New York, Mario de la Portilla G., VP of Corporate Strategy and Legal at Fairplay, Mexico City, and Robrecht Coppens from Loyens & Loeff, Brussels, at the IBA Annual Conference Mexico City 2024 🇲🇽🌐, discussing the latest trends in the VC market. Together, we delved into the latest data on venture capital across Europe, the US, and Latin America—examining investment numbers, sizes and sectors 📊🌎. We also shared the last trends on deal terms and investment structures, as well as insights on the process of standardizing contractual documentation for investments initiated in individual jurisdictions. For instance, Italy’s creation of the Italian SAFE 🇮🇹📄 is a significant step forward. Additionally, we introduced the Lean Documents project supported by the @IBA European Regional Forum and @IBA Closely Held Committee to define a European standard for the main contractual clauses of an investment agreement for a Series A round 📝🤝. While the US continues to dominate 🇺🇸🏆, it’s exciting to see the incredible potential emerging in Europe and Latin America 🇪🇺✨🇱🇦. Europe, in particular, has become increasingly attractive to US investors who are now willing to invest directly in European companies without requiring a flip transaction to the US 🚀💶. However, there are still gaps to fill for the European market to truly explode 💥. Greater financial support from European public authorities, harmonization of regulations at the European level, and standardization of contractual documentation are crucial steps needed to bolster the growth of the European VC ecosystem 🏗️⚖️. It was an insightful discussion 💡, and I’m excited to see how these developments—including the standardization initiatives—will shape the future of venture capital in these regions. Looking forward to continuing these conversations and driving positive change in the industry! 🌐🤝 International Bar Association #IBAMexico #IBA2024 Portolano Cavallo

Thank you to CAIA Association for choosing Talengo for this wonderful event alongside my professional colleagues. Here are some of the conclusions from the event: 1. The alternative market is experiencing a period of growth with the entry of new players, private banking entities and family offices investing in alternative investment, and increasing activity from established national and international players, which requires more specialized talent. 2. International careers outside Spain need to be explored to gain a crucial global perspective. 3. Values and competencies make the difference in an executive search process and therefore need to be approached with the same diligence as academic and professional qualifications. 4. AI will serve as a catalyst for managing the vast volume of information that executive search firms handle, but human judgment will always be essential in the search process. 5. Certifications such as CAIA add value to candidates because of their intrinsic value, expertise and the effort required to obtain them. #CAIA #AlternativeInvestments #Spain #privateequity #talentdevelopment #Talengo #Leadership #executivesearch CAIA EMEA Regional Focus Page

Thanks for joining CAIA Iberia's Networking Event in Madrid! Big shoutout to our speakers for their insights. It was an evening of valuable discussions and networking. The roundtable with headhunters provided the attendees with valuable insights into the future trends of the alternative investments market in Spain. We truly appreciate your participation and look forward to welcoming you to future events hosted by CAIA Iberia. Stay tuned for more events! José Antonio Ortega, Juan DIAZ-ANDREU GARCÍA, Emiliano Sacristan Navarro, José Miguel Moscardó González de Aledo Alvaro Arce Aliseda, Leonardo López, CAIA, Gisela Medina, CAIA, CESGA, Patricia Molpeceres, CAIA, CFA ESG, Alejandro Olivera Guerrero, CAIA, Jesús Ruiz Castañeda, CAIA, Borja Pujalrás Ortuño, CAIA, MFIA, Laura Merlini, CAIA, CIFD, Monica Lira مونيكا ليرة, Iván Suárez, Fanny Audeoud #caiaiberia #CAIAEMEA #Networking #financialeducation #alternativeinvestments #headhunters #financialcareers #Madrid #caiamembers

trade deals with alot of incentives but no one knows

One of the things that I find interesting is the rhetoric of "competition" and reading some of the nonsense that Anthony Blinken has written has made me realize that the definition of "competition" that the neocons had is fundamentally different from the one that I have. So an example of good competition is the rivalry between Hong Kong and Singapore. The thing about this is that being from Hong Kong, I *want* Singapore to do well and give us a hard time, because the better Singapore does, the more it ends up kicking us in the rear end so we get stuff done in Hong Kong, and I think my friends in Singapore feel the same way. This is something else that I learned in the commercial world. I worked for *big bank one* and we had a dozen competitors that would eat us alive if we messed up, and this was a good thing. Sometimes we won, sometimes we lost, but whatever happens there was this constant pressure to make ourselves better, and no victory is final. So this is the type of competition that I would *like* to see between China and the US and everyone else. But that's *not* the competition that Anthony Blinken wants to see. He wants to see a world in which the US just dominates everything forever, and that's not the type of world that I would like to see. I don't know what Trump's philosophy is, but I am hoping that he takes a business mentality toward competition.

🔥 Career Update! I have ventured into a new product startup 🚀, Surge. It means a lot to me personally. So, what are we doing at Surge? It's a Bitcoin Rollup-as-a-service 😅 Most of us know Bitcoin. One fundamental limitation is that you can only make 5-7 Transactions Per Second (TPS). At Surge, we are building infrastructure and tooling so teams that want to innovate over Bitcoin can leverage its strength (the most decentralized and Secure network), launch apps (rollups) with higher TPS, and solve specific problems like micro-payments, loyalty systems, general DeFi, etc. 

🔴 #Live #CompetitionLawInTheDigitalAge We now turn to 𝘗𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘭 3: 𝘙𝘦𝘨𝘶𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘊𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘪𝘯 𝘋𝘪𝘨𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘭 𝘔𝘢𝘳𝘬𝘦𝘵𝘴: 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘚𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘚𝘮𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘉𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘊𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘶𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘌𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵?  at our 2nd Annual International Conference on "𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗲𝘁𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗟𝗮𝘄 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗗𝗶𝗴𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝗔𝗴𝗲: 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗲𝘅𝘁𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘇𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗚𝗹𝗼𝗯𝗮𝗹 𝗘𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲𝘀". 🌍 This panel examines early regulatory experiences in technology markets across various jurisdictions. It will explore how these regulations impact small businesses, startups, SMEs, and consumers, and how they align with consumer interests. 🗣️ Moderator: Dr. Viswanath Pingali, Professor, IIM Ahmedabad and Senior Fellow – Economics, The Dialogue 🎙️ Speakers: 🔹 Dr. Kinshuk Jerath, Arthur F. Burns Professor of Free and Competitive Enterprise; Chair of the Marketing Division, Columbia Business School 🔹 Dr. William A. Reinsch, Scholl Chair and Senior Adviser, Center for Strategic and International Studies 🔹 Andrew Chongseh Kim, Senior Foreign Attorney, Bae, Kim & Lee LLC 🔹 Ms. Gowree Gokhale, Counsel, Nishith Desai Associates 🔹 Mr. Rajat Garg, Co-Founder and COO, myUpchar #Competition #CompetitionLaw #CompetitionPolicy #DigitalCompetition #Conference #DigitalMarkets Mariana Tavares CRUZ VILAÇA ADVOGADOS | Teresa Moreira UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD) | Dr. Aditya Bhattacharjea, Delhi School of Economics and The Dialogue | Hemangini Dadwal, AZB & Partners | Dr. Hariprasad Govinda, PhD, The Competition Commission South Africa | Dr. Victor Fernandes, Conselho Administrativo de Defesa Econômica - Cade | Rahul Rai, Axiom5 Law Chambers LLP | Andrew Chongseh Kim, Bae, Kim & Lee LLC | Dr. Lazar Radic, International Center for Law & Economics | Dr. Reiko Aoki, Japan Fair Trade Commission | Viswanath Pingali, Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad| Dr. Kinshuk Jerath, Columbia Business School | Dr. Inoue Akira Baker McKenzie Tokyo | Dr. William Reinsch, Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) | Rama Vedashree, Data Security Council of India | Payal Malik, Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER) | Akari Yamamoto, UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD) | Gowree Gokhale, Nishith Desai Associates | Rajat Garg, myUpchar.com | Kazim Rizvi |

Terrific to have joined a powerful discussion today alongside Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Director General of the World Trade Organization and her business advisory council with the presence of the three chairs of WTO committees leading vital ongoing discussions on the reform of the organization's dispute settlement body — Petter Ølberg, Saqer Abdullah Almoqbel and Adamu Mohammed Abdulhamid.(The Troika).   The Troika called the discussion eye-opening and helpful, recognising the insights shared by the private sector, particularly in response to the urgency of action required by WTO members.   It’s clear that more collaboration is needed, which is why I offered to build on this momentum by creating an institutionalised platform for global private sector engagement—helping to further facilitate the work of the Troika.