Hong Kong’s Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Authority (MPFA) has recently issued two sets of revised guidelines: III.2 Guidelines on Equities and Other Securities (Guideline III.2) and III.14 Guidelines on Default Investment Strategy (Guideline III.14). The revisions enable greater flexibility in investment in real estate investment funds (REITs). The revised Guideline III ...
The Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) issued its Consultation Conclusions on the OTC derivatives regime for Hong Kong – Proposed refinements to the scope of regulated activities and competence requirements under the OTC derivatives licensing regime (Conclusions) on 10 June 2020 ...
Civil Aviation Authority: All international flightsshall remain suspended untilJuly 22, 2020. National Immigration Authority: All identifications issued by the National Immigration Authoritythat weredue to expirebetween March 13 and July 31, 2020,willremain validuntilOctober 31, 2020,without incurring in fines or surcharges ...
To implement the changes to the PPP program contained in the recently enacted PPP Flexibility Act, Treasury has issued a new Interim Final Rule (IFR). It has also issued a revised forgiveness application form, worksheet and instructions, and a new expedited (EZ) forgiveness application form and instructions that can be used by certain borrowers. Links to those documents can be found below ...
It’s 8 am, and you just learned that a material cyber-incident occurred in your organization. You fire up your Incident Response Plan. You engage outside counsel, and outside counsel engages a forensic firm. Your company, your outside counsel, and your forensic firm all sign an agreement that the forensic firm will work at the direction of outside counsel ...
What are trademark scams? Many scam artists attempt to solicit money from trademark owners by sending notices that appear to be authentic but are meant to mislead or fraudulently induce payment for unnecessary or nonexistent services. Unfortunately, because trademark filings are a matter of public record, many bad actors utilize the filing information to prey upon the owners by seeming legitimate. An example of a widely -known scam is shown below ...
On 17 June 2020, the Occupational Retirement Schemes (Amendment) Bill 2019 (Bill) was passed at the Legislative Council. The Bill introduces amendments to the Occupational Retirement Schemes Ordinance (ORSO) with a view to preventing the misuse of schemes for purposes unrelated to employment and improving the governance of ORSO schemes ...
While the world contends with the COVID-19 crisis and its economic and financial impact, China is quietly opening its doors to its financial sector, inviting more foreign financial institutions, banks, insurance providers and other financial service companies to set up shop in China. On March 27, the Chinese government granted approval for both The Goldman Sachs Group Inc ...
In its notice published on May 18, 2020, the National Employment Service (Nemzeti Foglalkoztatási Szolgálat) laid down the fundamental criteria that must be met by an applicant to be eligible for the new EU-supported wage subsidy intended to help create new jobs in Hungary in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. There is an enormous difference between the Kurzarbeitwage subsidy and this job-creating wage subsidy ...
Key Points Prior recessions saw increased instances of investor-favorable terms. Founders need to weigh the benefit of receiving financing now vs. the potential chilling effect on future rounds of equity investment. Founders strategizing how to raise capital in the midst of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, can look to the last Great Recession to understand investor-favorable deal terms that may be prime to make a comeback ...
Key Points IRS proposed new regulations for like-kind exchanges under section 1031. The guidance provides the definition of real property and treatment of incidental personal property in the section 1031 context. On June 11, 2020, the IRS released proposed regulations for like-kind exchanges under Internal Revenue Code (the "Code") section 1031 to incorporate the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act ("TCJA") changes ...
The Guide for the Identification of Labor Risks by Covid-19 and Preventive Measures in Workplaces was published by the Guatemalan Social Security Institute ...
MDR postponement On 17 April 2020 the European Parliament decided to postpone the transition timeline to implement the EU Medical Device Regulation (MDR), which was set to expire on 26 May 2020, until 26 May 2021. The EU MDR postponement was published in the Official Journal of the European Union and entered into force on 24 April 2020 ...
The controversial issue of whether employers can check their employees' temperatures has been much debated. Both the Employment Ministry and the Data Protection Authority (DPA) have recently changed their positions in this respect ...
As employers continue to implement and maintain the current health and safety guidance to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in the workplace, they should also be mindful not to forget their other safety obligations. On June 15, 2020, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”) issued a News Release specifically reminding employers that workers need to be protected from both coronavirus and common workplace hazards ...
On June 3, 2020, the President of the Republic enacted the law that governs the financial portability, which was published in the Diario Oficial today, June 9, 2020 (the “Law”), whose main provisions can be summarized as follows: I. Scope The Law sets an inalienable right to the financial portability for the “Clients”, i.e ...
On May 29th, 2020, Law No. 21,234 was enacted (the"New Law"), amending and replacing completely Law No. 20,009, which establishes the “Regime of limitation of liability for users, of unauthorized use of means of payment”, expanding its scope of application, establishing a new liability regime for and a new catalogue of conducts which constitute the criminal offence of “fraudulent use of payment cards and electronic transactions”. Modifies Law No ...
On 11 June 2020, the Discrimination Legislation (Miscellaneous Amendments) Bill 2018 (Bill) was passed at the Legislative Council. The Bill introduced amendments to Hong Kong’s four anti-discrimination legislations, namely the Sex Discrimination Ordinance (SDO), the Disability Discrimination Ordinance (DDO), the Family Status Discrimination Ordinance (FSDO), and the Race Discrimination Ordinance (RDO) (Amendments) ...
Although the data for San Francisco Bay Area remains encouraging for the first quarter of 2020*, given the economic instability brought by COVID-19, we might see more down rounds going forward. Down rounds are financings where the company is valued less than in a previous round. In practical terms this means that the new investors are buying shares of the company at a lesser price than the previous investors ...
Hand sanitiser production is just one aspect of business that's altered for £5bn industry, writes George Frier of Shepherd and Wedderburn The whisky industry continues to captivate consumers and entrepreneurs. Record exports continue and, within the sector, the emergence of new brands and the rejuvenation of existing brands demonstrate a vibrant sub-set of the Scottish food & drink economy ...
As seen in Bank Director The federal government has a history of assisting businesses when a crisis occurs, but one of its latest interventions may have created risk for bank partners providing aid ...
Congress recently passed the economic stimulus package referred to as the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (the “CARES Act”), the Paycheck Protection Program and Health Care Enhancement Act (“PPPHCE Act”), and the Paycheck Protection Program Flexibility Act (“PPP Flexibility Act”). Ttogether, the CARES Act1, PPPHCE Act, and PPP Flexibility Act are called the “CARES Act” ...
