STEP Conference - Luxembourg
There can't be many places that qualify as more European than Luxembourg. The tiny country is home to 600,000 people but another 200,000 cross the border each day from neighbouring France, Belgium and Germany to work in this landlocked country.
Where better to hold the latest STEP Europe conference? With the pandemic and travel restrictions behind us, I was among 150 delegates from all over Europe and beyond who joined the conference in the luxurious setting of Le Royal Hotel.
STEP, or the Society of Trust and Estates Practitioners, is a worldwide organisation for all those who advise high net worth individuals, mainly lawyers, investment managers and accountants.
The two-day conference saw delegates learn about everything from cross-border successions, matrimonial regimes and philanthropy. There was even a 'breaking news' moment when the Court of Justice of the European Union ruled that measures in the EU Fifth Anti-Money Laundering Directive, whereby EU member states had to give unlimited public access to beneficial ownership of companies, was invalid, shortly before a seminar on the same topic.
But perhaps one of the most useful parts of the conference was the ability to network with people from all over Europe. The main language of the conference is English but there were plenty of opportunities to practise my French and even my (slightly rusty) Italian. I came home happy, energised and with a whole load of new LinkedIn contacts.