Robert Laure is new AMAF Chairman
Robert Laure - All rights reserved
He replaces Etienne Franzi.
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Last month, the Association Monégasque des Activités Financières (AMAF – Monegasque Financial Activities Association) elected its new Chairman: Robert Laure, Vice-Chairman of Julius Baer Wealth Management Monaco. He succeeds Etienne Franzi, who held the position for 25 years.
“It’s a great responsibility and a great pleasure at the same time,“ Robert Laure told Monaco Info. “A responsibility in that running our members’ activities is a substantial workload, and a pleasure because I’ve been involved for a long time ago, and now I’m able to devote my time and energy to it.”
After 43 years in the banking sector, Robert Laure joined the governing body of the Julius Baer Group in Monaco in 2022. He had previously worked in the Italian group Banca Commerciale Italiana in Monte-Carlo (BCI-MC), where he became deputy director and head of the wealth management department.
When the bank merged with the Compagnie Monégasque de Banque (CMB) in 1996, Robert Laure was appointed head of delegated asset management for collective investment products at CMB, and then CIO. Executive Chairman of the Compagnie Monégasque de Gestion, he was also Head of Funds & DPM at CMB until 2021.
Moneyval, the priority for 2024
Heavily involved in different Monegasque activities, Robert Laure is the outgoing Chairman of ACI, the Financial Market Association, as well as the Executive Vice-President-Secretary General of ‘Associations d’Entraide’ in Monaco. He also contributes to a number of different organisations, such as Medfund and AMAPEI.
Also on Monaco Info, Robert Laure spoke about his main priorities for 2024 within the AMAF. Starting with Moneyval, “Project number 1, on which the AMAF has already worked extensively and taken part in the work led by the Government, and for which new actions will be undertaken to accompany and support all our members. Also underway we have all the projects that are directly linked to regulatory developments and changes in standards, in which the AMAF is an important player and a loyal partner of the different Monegasque authorities, be it the Government or the National Council. And then, of course, we also take into account everything that concerns the Principality’s attractiveness from a business angle. We work closely with the DITN [Interministerial Delegation for Digital Transition] and the MEB [Monaco Economic Board].”
Asked about the fight against money laundering, to which the Principality is strongly committed, Robert Laure confirmed that the work already underway would continue in 2024: “the first texts on anti-money laundering regulations date back several decades now, and AMAF stakeholders have been heavily involved at several levels and for several reasons: as an employers’ association, AMAF’s involvement implies the involvement of all of its constituent entities. This means that all our members are fully informed of all regulatory developments. And many companies located in the Principality, whether based in Monaco, or dependent on international entities, adopted fundamental principles on the fight against money laundering quite some time ago.”
The AMAF is an employers’ association comprising all the entities that are approved by the Commission de Contrôle des Activités Financières (CCAF – Financial Activities Supervisory Commission). Its primary role is to represent all of its 90 members (including 27 banks), to defend their interests and to assist the different authorities with measures that may affect financial and banking activities in the Principality.