Face to Face with our Members: Clément Julien, Manager, EY Luxembourg

Face to Face with our Members: Clément Julien, Manager, EY Luxembourg

An interview with Clément Julien

Clément Julien joined EY Luxembourg in 2010. He is now Manager in the Private Equity department.

Could you please tell us more about your background?

I graduated from a business school in Angers (France). In 2010 I joined EY Luxembourg as a trainee at EY Luxembourg and I stayed there. I specialised in Real Estate and Private Equity. From the outset, I was involved in the Private Equity department on microfinance initiatives. I am also “reviseur d’entreprises” in Luxembourg since 2016.

What are your current responsibilities within EY?

As an auditor, we give an opinion on the accounts of various clients. I manage the audit project and a team. The work varies from day to day and depends a lot on your client portfolio. We manage the interactions between the shareholders and clients, stakeholders and service providers as well as the audit team who will help to bring the project to fruition. We work with a variety of people, from several nationalities. The aim at the end of the project is the certification of the annual accounts of a company or fund with a specific activity, for example microfinance.

How are you involved in inclusive finance?

I work on many audits of microfinance funds. Microfinance funds are funds which lend money to banks and local financial institutions based in developing countries which in turn grant loans to private individuals and SMEs. They are investment funds in Africa, Latin America, Central and South-East Asia. I also work on investment funds in renewable energy, principally in Europe.

As part of our audits, I also have the chance to travel to meet the investment advisers monitoring the different investments of the Fund. I went to Switzerland and Peru for example to discuss the portfolios and to better understand better the investment choices, processes and control in place. That was extremely interesting.

What is your key interest in inclusive finance?

Working with microfinance funds is very down-to-earth. You can see how useful the funds are. Also, the work is interesting because we deal with a great number of technical questions. For example, the investments are made in various currencies and I discovered the existence of local currencies I had never heard of. In addition, these impact funds are specifically linked to current events worldwide. You must therefore be aware of what is happening in the world. Thus, an earthquake in Ecuador can have an impact on the audit of a fund domiciled in Luxembourg. We are obliged to keep abreast of international news and look beyond the frontiers of Europe. Moreover, we meet people who are passionate about their work.

For you Inclusive finance is a passion, job or learning experience?

Inclusive finance, and more specifically impact and microfinance funds, are a source of learning as I previously said. I learn a lot from my discussions with the investment advisers. It’s a major source of knowledge.