Section 15(a)(1) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the “Exchange Act”) provides that “it shall be unlawful for any broker or dealer which is . . . a person other than a natural person . . . to make use of the mails or any means or instrumentality of interstate commerce to effect any transactions in, or to induce or attempt to induce the purchase or sale of, any security… unless such broker or dealer is registered [with the SEC] ...
Side letters are a common phenomenon encountered by hedge fund managers today. These letters are often used to secure better fees for key investors and to give preferential or improved access to information about underlying investments and liquidity. They also provide what are commonly referred to as most favoured nation provisions, meaning that if the fund offers better terms to another investor, the early-stage investors will also be able to take those new or better terms ...
In September 2006, the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) released the Consultation Conclusions on the draft guidelines on marketing materials for listed structured products (Guidelines). The Guidelines, to be published under section 399 of the SFO, will replace the current guidelines, which take the form of a letter to warrant issuers. The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong will continue to require compliance with the revised Guidelines as a condition to the listing of structured products ...
In November 2005, Energy Minister Malcolm Wicks was asked by the Prime Minister and Trade and Industry Secretary Alan Johnson to lead a Review of the Government's energy policy ...
Canada’s Clean Air ActWhat it is notThe new federal strategy respecting greenhouse gas reduction was finally unveiled on October 19, 2006 with the presentation of Bill C-30 on air quality(1) and the release of the brochure entitled Canada’s Clean Air Act(2). A few days later, on October 21st, the Government published its Notice of Intent which outlines the measures that it intends to develop and implement to reduce air emissions 3) ...
As expected, the latest set of EU regulations regarding collective investment schemes - the undertakings for collective investments in transferable securities (Ucits III) - has opened up an exciting new spectrum of product possibilities for the investment funds industry in Europe. Since December 2004 there has been a new range of creative product offerings being authorised by the Irish financial regulator under the Ucits III banner ...
For the many players in the oil and gas industry awareness of the regime for decommissioning offshore installations is increasingly important. Decommissioning is fundamental to petroleum operations and needs to be considered early, due to the various complexities involved. Many offshore installations in the North Sea have been operational well beyond their expected 25 year lifespan and are now up for decommissioning, although the recent high oil price granted a temporary postponement ...
Pursuant to the Act on Supervision of Financial Market, the National Bank of Slovakia has issued this Measure, which defines the content, format, terms, form, method, procedure and place of submitting the reports for statistical purposes by a pension asset management company for the pension asset management company itself and for individual pension funds established and managed by it, and by a supplementary pension company for the supplementary pension company itself and for individual pension f
Pursuant to the Act on Supervision of Financial Market, the National Bank of Slovakia has issued this Measure, which defines the content, format, terms, form, manner, procedure and place of submitting the reports to the National Bank of Slovakia by factoring companies, instalment financing companies and leasing companies for statistical purposes. This Measure is published in the Bulletin of the National Bank of Slovakia (Issue No ...
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Slovak Republic announced the adoption of the Treaty on Accession of the Czech Republic, Republic of Estonia, Republic of Cyprus, Republic of Latvia, Republic of Lithuania, Republic of Hungary, Republic of Malta, Republic of Poland, Republic of Slovenia and Slovak Republic to the Double Tax Treaty in case of adjustment of profit of associated companies, dated 23 July 1990 as amended by the Treaty of 21 December 1995 and the
Pursuant to the Act on Old-Age Pension Savings, the National Bank of Slovakia issued this Decree stipulating the requirements for the content of an annual and halfyear report on asset management in a pension fund, and annual and half-year report on equity management in a pension asset management company, as well as the content and structure of daily information about each transaction with pension fund assets ...
Pursuant to the Act on Supplementary Pension Savings, the National Bank of Slovakia issued this Decree stipulating the requirements for the content of an annual and halfyear report on asset management in supplementary pension fund and annual and half-year report on equity management of supplementary pension company ...
Pursuant to the Act on Banks, the National Bank of Slovakia issued this Measure defining the content, format, terms, form, method, procedure and place of submitting reports to the National Bank of Slovakia for statistical purposes. This Measure has been published in the Bulletin of the National Bank of Slovakia (Issue No ...
On 24 August 2006, the China Securities Regulatory Commission ("CSRC"), People's Bank of China ("PBOC") and the State Administration of Foreign Exchange ("SAFE") jointly issued new regulations, the "Measures for the Administration of Investment in Domestic Securities by Qualified Foreign Institutional Investors" (the "New QFII Rules") that govern the regime allowing qualifying foreign institutions approved by the CSRC as Qualified Foreign Institutional Investors ("QFIIs") to invest in China A sh
This article was first published in Invest Romania, October 2006 issue. 1 Common customs policy The enlargement of the European Union automatically triggered the enlargement of the scope and applicability of the common commercial policy promoted by the member states towards the new member states ...
The issue of coalbed methane (CBM) ownership, frequently disputed between coal rights holders and holders of mines and minerals rights other than coal, has been the subject of numerous recent applications to the Alberta Energy and Utilities Board (AEUB). The AEUB recently announced that it will hold a hearing relating to legal entitlement of CBM on split-title freehold mineral lands in Alberta ...
Before 1978, China's economic policies were mainly aimed at self-reliance. As a result, the country was virtually shut off from world economic developments. In 1978, China opened its doors to foreign investment with the goal of modernising its economy and raising the living standard of its people. The country has since established the necessary legislative basis for foreign investment and has actively sought to acquire modern foreign management and technical skills ...
In the recent past, the State Supervision of Financial Organizations (the "SSFO") has published its guidelines on its official website regarding the possibility of providing financial services in the territory of Hungary by credit institutions/financial enterprises with a registered seat in a Member State of the European Union in the form of cross-border services through agencies by means of the Hungarian Bank Act ...
The recently introduced Pension Protection Act 2006 makes two important changes to the definition of the term "plan assets" for the purposes of ERISA. The new legislation continues to provide that the assets of a fund or other entity will not constitute "plan assets" and will therefore not be subject to the fiduciary obligations under ERISA if less than 25% of the value of each class of equity in the entity is held by "benefit plan investors" ...
By January 2007 all EU members are supposed to adopt MiFID, including its implementation measures published in June 2006. Firms carrying out investment services will then have to comply with it by November 2007. MiFID should greatly facilitate EU cross-border activities since passported firms will no longer be subject to prudential regulation in each country where they provide services but only by their home country ...
In the recent Feedback Statement (FS06/2) from the UK's Financial Services Authority (FSA) to its Discussion Paper entitled "Hedge funds: A discussion of risk and regulatory engagement", the FSA identified the use of side letters as an area of concern where a market failure may be present, thus potentially requiring regulatory intervention by the FSA ...
The SFC has recently published a guide to the information required to be submitted to the SFC in relation to risk management and control processes by fund managers seeking approval to use the expanded investment powers under UCITS III (Guide). The Guide sets out the items and areas relating to the risk management and control process that the SFC normally expects to be provided in order to give the SFC an understanding of the risk management processes of the relevant UCITS III funds ...
This paper was first published by the Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation, Volume XXIII, Number 2, 2006. Chris Baldwin, Canada mining reporter for the Mineral Law Newsletter, is a partner and Megan Kaneen is an articled student with Lawson Lundell LLP In Vancouver, British Columbia; Behn Conroy and Laurel Petryk are associates with Lang Michener in Toronto, Ontario, and Vancouver, British Columbia, respectively ...
