With COVID-19 vaccines fully available in the United States, employers are approaching work-from-home requests differently than they were a year ago. Dinsmore labor and employment attorneys Ashley Pack, Crystal Spivey Wildeman and Aly St. Pierre wrote about the topic in Best Lawyers: The Litigation Issue. An excerpt is below. Employers are facing legal uncertainty in the form of whether to accommodate continued remote-work requests ...
Since the G7 meeting on 5 June when the G7 finance ministers announced a global corporation tax of at least 15%, there has been much written and spoken about the new proposed global minimum tax rate. Janet Yellen, the US Treasury Secretary, called the agreement a “historic day for economic diplomacy” ...
Regulation 603/2021 was approved by the Governing Board of the Institute of Public Markets, Real Estate and Construction I.P. (“IMPIC”) and came into force on 5 July 2021. The aim of this regulation (“Regulation”) is to establish and regulate the procedures to be adopted in the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing in the real estate sector ...
In a sign that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission continues to ramp up its enforcement efforts, the SEC last week in In re: Healthcare Services Group Inc. charged a health care services company and its chief financial officer and controller as part of the Division of Enforcement's Earnings Per Share, or EPS, Initiative. A Sept ...
There are indirect, and potential direct, implications for lending transactions from the Pension Schemes Act 2021. Both lenders and borrowers, as well as pensions trustees, have an interest in knowing what's changed and how that might impact their deals. The Act received Royal Assent on 11 February 2021 and updates the Pensions Act 2004. It primarily relates to funding and security of Defined Benefit or ‘Final Salary’ Schemes (‘DB Schemes’) ...
On August 31st, 2021, with 64 votes the Congress approved the Law regarding the Creation of the Bitcoin Trust (“FIDEBITCOIN”), by means of which a trust is constituted in the Development Bank of the Republic of El Salvador (“BANDESAL”), to benefit the users of the National Wallet, represented by the Republic of El Salvador, whose purpose will be to support the alternatives for bitcoin convertibility provided by the Salvadoran Government ...
Margin ratchets are a concept that the banking and finance world are familiar with. Increasingly these are linked to ESG loans with both lender and borrower engagement. How do they work in practice, what are the benefits and what are the potential risks? Typically margin ratchets are linked to financial covenants – more often than not leverage – they incentivise borrowers to improve their financial health over the life of a loan ...
On May 21, 2020, the Commission adopted amendments to the financial statement disclosure requirements for business acquisitions and dispositions by Commission registrants that also apply to companies undertaking an initial public offering. The amendments resulted from the Commission staff’s ongoing evaluation of Regulation S-X and Regulation S-K as part of its Disclosure Effectiveness Initiative and were proposed by the Commission in May 2019 ...
Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) has announced details of requirements for fund managers to address climate change in their investment and risk management processes and make appropriate disclosures. Where are the requirements set out? On 20 August 2021, the SFC issued: Consultation Conclusions on the Management and Disclosure of Climate-related Risks by Fund Managers with amendments to the Fund Manager Code of Conduct (FMCC) set out in Appendix B and C ...
On August 27, 2021, the Regulation of the Bitcoin Law (the “Regulation”) was published in the Official Gazette of El Salvador. The Regulations will enter into force on September 8, one day after the entry into force of the Bitcoin Law ...
We are still waiting for the “official” SBA FAQ announcing the withdrawal of the Forms 3509/3510 Loan Necessity Questionnaire (“Questionnaire”) that, according to the SBA, will include additional information about its review process. In the meantime, PPP lenders have been told by the SBA that they no longer are required to request that borrowers who obtained loans of $2 million or more complete the Questionnaire ...
Important new legislative changes impacting federally regulated employers will come into effect in 2021: the Pay Equity Act and a minimum wage requirement. Details on both these measures and how that will affect employers are examined below. Pay Equity Act The federal Pay Equity Act comes into effect on August 31, 2021. The Act applies to federally regulated employers who have 10 or more employees ...
Since President Joe Biden’s July 9, 2021, executive order, “Promoting Competition in the American Economy,” there has been a renewed focus and speculation surrounding the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) forthcoming rulemaking under Dodd-Frank Act, Section 1033. Many industry leaders are optimistic President Biden’s order and the CFPB’s previous request for comments are a sign the U.S. is moving closer to open banking ...
On 20 August 2021, the Personal Information Protection Law of the People’s Republic of China (“PIPL”) was passed by the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, and will become effective on 1 November 2021. Comprising 8 chapters and 74 articles, PIPL lays down a clearer yet stricter regulatory framework for the protection of personal information ...
On July 21, 2021, the SEC’s Division of Examinations (the Division) issued a Risk Alert detailing examinations of investment advisers participating in wrap fee programs. The Division conducted over 100 examinations of advisers associated with wrap fee programs generally from two perspectives: (i) advisers serving as portfolio managers in, or sponsors of, wrap fee programs; and (ii) advising client accounts through unaffiliated/third-party wrap fee programs ...
On July 21, 2021, the SEC’s Division of Examinations (the Division) issued a Risk Alert detailing more than 20 examinations of investment advisers who engaged in cross trades, principal trades, or both, involving fixed-income securities as part of the Division’s FIX Initiative. The July 21, 2021, Risk Alert is a follow-up to the Sept ...
‘Navigating the Fintech Revolution in Thailand’ is the indispensable must-read guide for fintech experts who want to stay up-to-date on all current and future fintech developments and successfully navigate the sector’s many challenges and pitfalls! In this edition, DFDL reports on the current state of fintech in Thailand from a legislative and policy perspective with an overview of the current and future fintech landscape ...
Despite the cannabis industry’s explosive growth, many financial institutions have been hesitant to transact with cannabis-related businesses given the ambiguity created by divergent state and federal cannabis laws. The SAFE Banking Act seeks to remove these ambiguities at the federal level and pave the way for more financial institutions to serve the cannabis industry ...
The freeze partnership is an often overlooked estate tax planning tool. Unlike more common estate tax planning vehicles, the freeze partnership is not a trust and, as the name implies, is a closely-held partnership, limited partnership or LLC (in this article, the term partnership will be used to refer to partnerships, limited partnerships and LLCs) ...
The Green and Sustainable Finance Cross-Agency Steering Group co-chaired by the HKMA and the SFC (Steering Group) announced on 15 July 2021 the next steps to advance its strategy to bolster Hong Kong’s position as a leader in green and sustainable finance and help transition the financial ecosystem towards carbon neutrality ...
On 20 July 2021, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) issued a draft guideline on climate risk management for consultation with the banking industry with comments due by 20 August 2021. The guideline includes expectations on governance, strategy, risk management and disclosure ...
In the recent US case of In Re Citibank August 11, 2020 Wire Transfers (Revlon), the New York federal court held that lenders in a syndicated loan were not obliged to return an erroneous payment made by the syndicated facility agent due to the ‘discharge for value’ principle, which operated as a successful defence to unjust enrichment (click here for the full decision) ...
Health and safety issues in the agricultural and rural sector are a matter of considerable concern. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is urging farmers to make safety a priority to reduce the number of injuries and fatalities in the sector. This recent campaign was prompted by four fatalities over a fortnight, coming only weeks after Farm Safety Week ...
Japan has a history of investment and joint ventures in India. Foreign direct investment from Japan increased to USD35 billion between 2000-2020, with USD10 billion worth of inbound mergers and acquisitions in 2015-2020 alone. Factors including geopolitical realignments in Asia, excess global liquidity and a new, incentive-based manufacturing regime in India mean that the economic relationship between India and Japan in high-value manufacturing is likely to expand further ...
