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CBFL 10th Anniversary Series: Roundtable with Anna Veneziano
On 11 October 2024, the Centre for Banking and Finance Law (CBFL) was pleased to welcome Professor Anna Veneziano, Deputy Secretary-General of the International Institute for the Unification of Private Law (UNIDROIT), and a tenured Professor of Comparative Law at the University of Téramo, Italy. This roundtable discussion was part of a series of events in conjunction with CBFL’s 10th anniversary. Associate Professor Sandra Booysen, Director of CBFL, moderated the roundtable session with Professor Veneziano.
The roundtable session was attended by faculty members, researchers, and postgraduate students of Faculty of Law, National University of Singapore. Professor Veneziano helpfully began by taking the participants through some of the key highlights of the work of UNIDROIT in recent years, particular relation to the banking and finance sectors.
A key high priority project currently being undertaken by UNIDROIT is the project on Bank Insolvency which seeks to address the gap in dealing effectively with the failure of small and medium-sized banks, i.e. non-systemic banks. The project, which is conducted in cooperation with and with the support of the BIS Financial Stability Institute, has drawn the interest of an unprecedented number of central banks, supervisors, resolution authorities, and deposit insurance corporations as observers to the project. In the financial sector, Professor Veneziano also mentioned the completed legislative guide on capital markets and the UNIDROIT Convention on Substantive Rules for Intermediated Securities (Geneva Convention), and the UNCITRAL/UNIDROIT Model Law on Warehouse Receipts.
Professor Veneziano also shared about the recently concluded work on the Digital Assets and Private Law project resulting in the publication of the UNIDROIT Principles on Digital Assets and Private Law, and the potential collaboration with the Hague Conference on Private International Law on future work relating to digital assets and tokens. Also in the international space, the UNIDROIT together with the International Chamber of Commerce’s Institute of World Business Law (ICC Institute) in developing international standards to guide the contractual relationship between States and private investors.
Professor Veneziano also spoke of the projects undertaken in the agriculture sector, which she is deeply involved in, such as the preparation of an international guidance document on Collaborative Legal Structures for Agricultural Enterprises, and completed projects such as the Legal Guide on Contract Farming and the Legal Guide on Agricultural Land Investment Projects. These projects were the result of a tripartite partnership between UNIDROIT, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FA)), and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).
In the area of sustainable development, the UNIDROIT is currently working on projects on the Legal nature of Verified Carbon Credits (VCCs) to provide guidance and certainty on issues of private law so as to support and facilitate the development of well-functioning carbon credit markets. UNIDROIT is also in the initial stages of development of a guidance document on Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence in Global Value Chains, which Professor Veneziano encouraged the attendees to participate in when it takes shape.
Aside from discussing the subjects Professor Veneziano also gave some insight into the work of UNIDROIT and its consultative and collaborative ethos, including the manner in which the work programme of UNIDROIT is conceived and the partnerships with other international institutions in recent years. She also spoke about the efforts taken for enhancing awareness and adoption of UNIDROIT instruments and guidance and the efforts to further engagement with UNIDROIT member states and non-member states alike. Participants were then able to ask some further questions regarding the details of specific programmes which were of particular interest to them. The roundtable session then concluded with the participants having a clearer insight into the inner workings of UNIDROIT and its mission, with much to chew on for future projects.
Professor Veneziano’s profile may be found here.
More information about UNIDROIT’s current projects may be found here.
Launched on 12 September 2014, the Centre for Banking and Finance Law celebrates its 10th anniversary this year. To find out more about other CBFL events, including those in the 10th Anniversary Series, please click here.