Our NYC Team Welcomes New Member as New York Adjusts to the New Normal

New York City has slowly been recovering since last summer. While the arrival of the Delta variant has strongly affected the US in general, New York has managed to stay on track with its schedule for reopening largely thanks to its rapid and strong vaccination program. Since its full “reopening” last July, the city has seen the return of cultural and sports activities, and business is following closely behind.

Earlier this year, many businesses postponed their plans of returning to the office, but September brought with it winds of change in New York’s business districts, such as Midtown Manhattan. Many companies are now either providing their employees with the option of returning to the office or requiring them to do so ahead of the original schedule.

In addition to these positive developments within the city itself, businesses and expats alike are abuzz about the US borders reopening in early November to vaccinated travelers from the Schengen countries and other countries that were previously subject to travel restrictions, such as UK and China. These travelers will be exempt from quarantine, allowing business travel again after the 18-month ban.

Businesses opting for an early return to the office and the lifting of the travel ban are expected to boost the US economy and increase trans-Atlantic business travel. One of the ways in which our New York office has prepared to rise to the challenge posed by the expected uptick in business activity is welcoming Resident Associate Miranna Kuivas to our ranks in New York.

Miranna’s extensive international expertise is a great asset to our team as she will be assisting our clients with their US business as part of the New York team in addition to advising our clients on major domestic and international financial arrangements as a member of our Helsinki-based Finance and Banking team. With Miranna present and working at our New York office as business picks back up, we are confident that our clients will benefit to the fullest from their cross-border M&A activities driven by a continuing strong market.

One example of how well business has been revived is the success of our first in-person event, which was held at our New York office on 23 September. The breakfast seminar, which complied with the Covid-19 guidelines issued by the CDC, focused on President Biden’s policies on trade and business with a special focus on sustainability. We organized the event together with the Finnish American Chamber of Commerce.

The seminar drew many guests, no doubt due to the fascinating combination of expert speakers from both the public and private sectors. We were joined by the Consul General of Finland in New York, Mika Koskinen, as well as Columbia Law School law professor Anu Bradford and the General Manager of SAS North America, Jasmin Utter.

For many of our guests this was the first in-person event they had attended since the outbreak of the pandemic, and they were all very enthusiastic about being able to connect with other people again. Encouraged by the increased interest in face-to-face business events, we will continue to organize in-person events in New York. We are especially excited about hosting our traditional and very popular Independence Day celebration in December.

Now that New York is showing strong signs of recovery and with the reopening of the borders in November being expected to give a further boost to the economy, our New York office is once again ready to assist our clients with their business in the US market. Our team is working around the clock to ensure that our clients benefit from the revival of cross-border business opportunities. We look forward to collaborating with both our international and domestic experts and hope to welcome many existing and new clients that are entering or operating in the US market to our events.