Assembly Bill (AB) 5, signed by Governor Gavin Newsom in September 2019, which went into effect on Jan. 1, 2020, codified the California Supreme Court’s landmark decision in Dynamex Operations West, Inc. v. Superior Court of Los Angeles ...
The Federal government’s COVID emergency loan programs and credit facilities have moved into critical new phases. As highlighted by the recent media focus on the new SBA PPP Forgiveness Questionnaire for borrowers, both borrowers and lenders face new and challenging issues regarding these loan programs, particularly PPP loans and the Main Street Loan Program. PPP Loan Program – For most borrowers, the time period for spending PPP loan proceeds has expired ...
Hong Kong has in recent times seen an increasing use of remote on-boarding of customers by banks as a result of COVID-19. Banks are generally required to pay more attention to the remote on-boarding assessment of corporate customers as opposed to individual ones due to the higher money laundering and terrorist financing risks associated with corporate vehicles ...
In September 2020, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (“HKMA”) issued the Guideline explaining the HKMA’s interpretation of some of his oversight requirements under the Payment Systems and Stored Value Facilities Ordinance (“PSSVFO”) relating to designated Retail Payment Systems (“Designated RPS”) so as to assist system operators (“SO”) or settlement institutions (“SI”) of Designated RPS to understand and comply with such requiremen
On 21 August 2020, the HKIMR, the research arm of the Hong Kong Academy of Finance, released its second report, entitled “Artificial Intelligence in Banking: The Changing Landscape in Compliance and Supervision”. The report is intended as a starting point for understanding the broad implications of Artificial Intelligence (“AI”) adoption in the banking industry, as well as in relation to compliance and supervision ...
The HKMA has developed a two-year roadmap to promote Regtech adoption in the Hong Kong banking sector (“Roadmap”), as set out in a White Paper entitled “Transforming Risk Management and Compliance: Harnessing the Power of Regtech” (“White Paper”). The White Paper presents the case for wider adoption of Regtech in Hong Kong, outlining a series of actions that the HKMA will take, or consider taking, to accelerate its adoption ...
The FSB, the organisation that coordinates the development of effective regulatory, supervisory and other financial sector policies at an international level, published its final report on the regulation, supervision and oversight of global stablecoin (“GSC”) arrangements (“Final Report”) in October 2020 ...
Hong Kong has in recent times seen an increasing use of remote on-boarding of customers by banks as a result of COVID-19. Banks are generally required to pay more attention to the remote on-boarding assessment of corporate customers as opposed to individual ones due to the higher money laundering and terrorist financing risks associated with corporate vehicles ...
On 25 November 2020, the Chief Executive of Hong Kong SAR Carrie Lam presented her fourth Policy Address, which includes various proposals to create more jobs in both the public and private sectors through the Job Creation Scheme established under the anti-epidemic fund measures, enhance support to employees through the Love Upgrading Special Scheme for Retraining, and create employment opportunities for young people in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) ...
On November 25, 2020, the Brazilian Senate approved Bill of Law No 4,458/2020 ("BL 4458"), which amends Law No 11,101/2005 ("BBL"), to update the legislation regarding the judicial reorganization, pre-packaged reorganization and bankruptcy liquidation of businessmen and companies. BL 4458, which provisions have already been approved by the House of Representatives, will now be sanctioned by the President ...
The Federal Reserve has issued amended For Profit and Non-Profit Frequently Asked Questions for the Main Street Lending Program, addressing the key dates for the end of the program in December, 2020. These dates are driven by the end of the Federal Reserve’s Special Purpose Vehicle’s authority to purchase MSLP loan participations on December 31 ...
Three pharmaceutical companies, AstraZeneca, Moderna and Pfeizer, have announced COVID-19 vaccines, which the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Dr. Anthony Fauci, has announced could be available as early as late December 2020.[1] Governor Mike DeWine announced some Ohio health care professionals could receive the COVID vaccine as early as Dec. 15, 2020 ...
As concern over cybersecurity continues to grow,[1] defense contractors have been waiting for the Department of Defense (DoD) to roll out its Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) program. That rollout has occurred, with DoD’s recently published interim rule Assessing Contractor Implementation of Cybersecurity Requirements (DFARS Case 2019-D041)[2] (“Interim Rule”), effective Nov. 30, 2020, and providing for a five-year phase-in of CMMC ...
On Nov. 19, 2020, the Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations (OCIE) issued a new Risk Alert focusing on common compliance deficiencies relating to the Advisers Act and Rule 206(4)-7, otherwise known as the Compliance Rule. As a brief refresher, the Compliance Rule requires advisers to adopt and implement written policies and procedures reasonably designed to prevent violations of the Advisers Act ...
The California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (fka Department of Business Oversight) is one step closer to issuing final regulations that would impose new early disclosure requirements on covered commercial lenders that are CFL licensed or subject to CFL licensing. On September 11, 2020, DFPI issued 4th Round Proposed Commercial Loan Disclosures. The DFPI's rulemaking is required by California Financial Code 22804 after California enacted SB 1235 in 2018 ...
Following the issuance of new rules governing the Qualified Foreign Investors (QFI) regime in September 2020 (New QFI Rules, for more information, you may refer to our earlier article here), China equities and futures trading exchanges (including the Shanghai Stock Exchange (SSE), the Shenzhen Stock Exchange (SZSE), the National Equities Exchange and Quotations (NEEQ) and the China Financial Futures Exchange (CFFEX)) issued new implementation rules for QFIs at the end of October ...
Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) issued a circular last year (the Circular) in recognition of the increasing use of electronic data storage (cloud storage) for record keeping purposes. The Circular was intended to provide licensed corporations with greater flexibility in keeping regulatory records with electronic data service providers (EDSPs), as well as to clarify their general obligations in relation to electronic data ...
Hong Kong’s Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Authority (MPFA) revised the Guidelines on Approved Exchanges (Guidelines III.4) with effect from 13 November 2020, adding Shanghai Stock Exchange, Shenzhen Stock Exchange, Indonesia Stock Exchange and Warsaw Stock Exchange (Additional Exchanges) to the list of approved stock exchanges for the purpose of the Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes (General) Regulation (Regulation) ...
Private open-ended fund companies (OFCs) can now appoint intermediaries licensed or registered for type 1 (dealing in securities) regulated activities by the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) to act as custodians (T1 Intermediary Custodian), aligning custody and prime brokerage arrangements with major overseas fund jurisdictions ...
Hong Kong’s Financial Services and Treasury Bureau (FSTB) issued a public consultation paper on 3 November 2020 (Consultation) proposing the introduction of a licensing regime for virtual asset services providers (VASPs), as well as other changes to Hong Kong’s anti-money laundering regime ...
On 29 October 2020, Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) published its Consultation Paper on the Management and Disclosure of Climate-related Risks by Fund Managers (Consultation) which proposes new mandatory requirements for Hong Kong fund managers of collective investment schemes around climate-related risks ...
With the Universal Community Testing Programme for COVID-19 detection by the Hong Kong Government and temperature screening in the workplace, the collection and use of biometric data (such as DNA samples, fingerprints and facial images) have raised concerns among the public. In August 2020, the Privacy Commissioner (PC) has updated its guidance note on how data users should collect and use biometric data in compliance with the Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance (Guidance Note) ...
Following the introduction in the British Virgin Islands (BVI) of the Economic Substance (Companies and Limited Partnerships) Act, 2018 (ESA), which became effective on January 1st, 2019, some questioned the sustainability of BVI’s position as a leading international financial centre. While we cannot underestimate those concerns, we believe that there is also evidence that ESA will not have a negative impact on the BVI ...
The German Federal Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information (BfDI) sees the decision as a success: On November 11, 2020, the District Court of Bonn reduced the fine imposed on 1&1 Telekom GmbH for a data protection breach from an original EUR 9.55 million to EUR 990,000.00, thereby fundamentally calling into question the fine practices of the German supervisory authorities ...
The Court of Justice of the European Union delivers judgments regarding the concept of “communication to the public” faster than legal scholars can read and dissect them. While we are eagerly awaiting the Court’s analysis of different types of hyperlinking, it has taken less than two months to follow Advocate General Hogan’s opinion regarding the emailing of evidence containing copyrighted works to a court in legal proceedings ...
