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Mazars Group has hired an experienced European regulator to strengthen its consultancy to capital markets participants. Fabrice Demarigny, former secretary general of the Committee of European Securities Regulators (CESR), heads the firm’s capital markets advisory service.

Demarigny arrives at a time of heightened demand for capital markets consulting in Europe as corporations come to grips with a new regulatory framework. Mazars chairman Patrick de Cambourg explained the new position is a response to the growing demand of the clients. “The corporate world wants to have a better understanding of the new regulatory framework in order to take advantage of the new European environment,” he said.

Demarigny told IAB he joined Mazars for a fresh challenge after spending the majority of his career as a regulator. “Because of my past, working for the French supervisor and then the last six years for the Committee of European Securities Regulators that has drafted most of the EU directives applicable to listed companies… I was keen, after legal and regulatory work, to move to the real life,” the 43-year old said. “I want to help market players to better apply these [new] rules, not as a painful exercise of compliance but rather to use the opportunities that the [EU] directives create by giving more free access to capital and services across the union. I know the legal aspects of that and to help all categories of market players, be it intermediaries, corporates going public or already listed to benefit from these new freedoms.” 

Demarigny brings years of regulatory experience to the firm. He spent six years at the commission des Operations de Bourse, France’s former securities market regulator, before becoming the secretary general of the Forum of European Securities Commissions in 1997. In 2002, he was appointed the secretary general of CESR.

Demarigny is a law and economics graduate and has a doctorate in political sciences from Sciences Po in Paris. Although based at the offices of Mazars’ legal partner Marccus Partners, he will be directly involved in serving Mazars’ clients.

He said his role would focus more on the legal aspects and how companies can take advantage of the various directives that are designed to create a single European market. He told IAB that capital markets consulting is an area of growth for the firm and there are plans to expand the service line further. Demarigny predicts demand for this type of advisory work will escalate ad the EU continues to prove an attractive marketplace.