Global Financial Collateral: A Guide to Security Interests in Securities, Securities Accounts, and Deposit Accounts in International Transactions

Recognizing a need for a legal guide on the choice-of-law complexities and substantive similarities and differences involved in international secured transactions in financial collateral, members of the UCC Committee’s International Law Subcommittee developed a fact pattern and questionnaire that lawyers from G-20 countries, offshore jurisdictions and other countries in Latin America, Europe and Asia completed. This questionnaire provided a common framework through which variations among jurisdictions could be readily identified, thus facilitating cross-border analysis. In one single volume, the scope of the project includes more than 40 jurisdictions worldwide.

Peer reviewed by leading experts, this guidebook is a valuable resource for lawyers working on cross-border secured transactions involving common types of financial collateral: directly held certificated securities; directly held uncertificated securities; securities accounts (and securities credited to them); and deposit accounts. The book dedicates a chapter to each jurisdiction that is surveyed to provide general guidance when negotiating such a secured transaction in that jurisdiction. Carefully edited to enhance comparison, the guide aims to assist lawyers in framing their choice-of-law analysis and helping them to gain insight into the substantive law complexities that can arise in transactions with this type of collateral.

Ms. Christophorou is counsel at Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP, based in its New York office.  Ms. Christophorou’s practice focuses on commercial financing, including secured transactions and bankruptcy law, derivative products and structured finance.  She represents leading financial institutions, corporate borrowers, private investment funds and sovereign clients on these matters.

Ms. Christophorou is Chair of the American Bar Association Business Law Section. She previously held other leaadershp positions within the Section, including as chair of its Uniform Commercial Code Committee.  

Ms. Christophorou is a member of The American Law Institute. 

Ms. Christophorou is a past President of the American College of Commercial Finance Lawyers.  She is also a past chair of the Uniform State Laws Committee of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York.   

Ms. Christophorou is on the Board of Directors for the Citizens Union, a non-profit organization that works to enhance good governance in New York City and New York State.  Ms. Christophorou formerly served as a director on the Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy board.

Ms. Christophorou received a J.D. degree, magna cum laude, from Harvard Law School and an undergraduate degree, magna cum laude, from the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service. Ms. Christophorou served as law clerk to the Honorable Joanna Seybert in the U.S. District Court, Eastern District of New York. 

Ms. Christophorou is a member of the Bar in New York.

University of Chicago Law School, J.D., Member of Chicago Law Review and Chicago Journal of International Law, 2004

Florida International University, B.A., cum laude, 1999

Bar Admissions

Florida, 2006

New York, 2005

Languages 

Spanish

Areas of Focus 

Banking & Financial Services

Corporate

Corporate Reorganization & Bankruptcy

Latin America

Mergers & Acquisitions

Project Finance

Celeste Boeri Pozo is counsel in the Miami office of Hughes Hubbard & Reed. Her practice focuses on international corporate finance and Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) matters. Celeste has participated in a variety of complex cross-border matters across the Americas. She has experience negotiating syndicated and bilateral loan facilities, including structured and trade financings, and other types of cross-border and domestic secured financings. Celeste has also worked on financing mergers and acquisitions, project financings as well as general corporate and commercial matters for multinational corporations and international financial institutions, with a particular focus on Brazil and other Latin American countries. As an active member of the Uniform Commercial Code Committee of the American Bar Association (ABA) Business Law Section, Celeste is currently serving as Chair of the International Commercial Law Subcommittee.

Highlighted Publications and Lectures

·        Co-Chair and moderator, "Two Countries Separated by a Common Secured Transactions Law: A Comparison of Perfection Best Practices Under the UCC, PPSA and Quebec Civil Law," ABA Business Law Section Spring Meeting, Montreal, Quebec, Canada (April 9, 2016)

·        Panelist, "Intercreditor Agreements: What Bankruptcy Lawyers Need to Know About Them and Their Enforceability," ABA Business Bankruptcy Committee Meeting, Miami (Sept. 29, 2015)

·     Chair and panelist, "Worldwide Receivables Financing: How to Navigate the High Seas of Securing Accounts Arising from International Trade," ABA Business Law Section Spring Meeting, San Francisco (April 16, 2015)

·     Chair and moderator, "So You Think You Know What Law Applies to Your Transaction? Avoiding Malpractice and Other Unpleasant Surprises: A Primer on the UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods," ABA Business Law Section Annual Meeting, Chicago (Sept. 11, 2014)

·     Panelist, "The Lender Asked for What? Understanding Financing Documents from the Borrower's Perspective," ABA Business Law Section Spring Meeting, Washington, DC (April 5, 2013)

·     Co-author, with Amy Dulin, "Mitigating Risks to Commodity Financing in Brazil," Latin Finance (February 2008)

·     "Foreign Affairs Power Doctrine Wanted Dead or Alive: Reconciling One Hundred Years of Preemption Cases," Valparaiso University Law Review 41 (2006)

·     "How to Solve Argentina's Debt Crisis: Will the IMF’s Plan Work?" The Chicago Journal of International Law 4 (2003)

Professional Activities

·     Chair of the International Commercial Law Subcommittee of the ABA Business Law Section, Uniform Commercial Code Committee

·     Member, President’s Council of Florida International University

·     Editor of the American Bar Association Commercial Law Newsletter 2012 – 2015

Recognition

·     Ranked Super Lawyers in Florida, Rising Star 2012 – 2015

·     Cystic Fibrosis Foundation's "40 under 40" Outstanding Lawyers of Miami-Dade County