We are pleased to issue our fourth edition of the Regulatory Compliance Quarterly Updates. These updates are intended to keep Maltese regulated entities informed of regulatory changes and developments taking place in the local financial services space. In this issue, we focus on the sector specific and cross-sectoral regulatory updates relating to Investment Services and Asset Management, Company Service Providers, Insurance Undertakings, and Insurance Intermediaries ...
Contents Please click on the links below to jump to the relevant section: Overview FAQ 1: Are SPV trustees in scope? FAQ 2: What about SPVs that aren’t trustees? Do you need to have a “customer” or “third party” to be in scope? FAQ 3: I do have “customers” or “third parties” ...
On March 21, 2023, the Supreme Court of the United States heard oral argument in Abitron Austria GmbH, et al. (“Abitron et al.”) v. Hetronic International, Inc. (“Hetronic”)[i] on an issue it has not squarely addressed in seven decades: the extraterritorial reach of the Lanham Act, the comprehensive trademark statute in the United States ...
April 5, 2023 By: Julian Gurule Turmoil in the tech ecosystem and escalating sentiment that a recession in the U.S. might occur in the near-term, indicate that startups, their lenders, and investors may soon confront extreme financial challenges – and will force all stakeholders in a troubled venture to consider strategic options ...
April 5, 2023 By: Nora Sheriff and Samir Hafez In their Wildfire Mitigation Plans (WMPs), Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PG&E) and Southern California Edison (SCE) indicate plans to spend roughly $18 billion and $5.8 billion respectively over the 2023-2025 WMP cycle. These total figures represent an approximately 26% increase over the utilities’ 2020-2022 WMP expenditures ...
Approval process The Jersey Financial Services Commission (“JFSC”) does not need to review the fund structure, documentation or the promoter. Instead the fund administrator certifies to the JFSC that the fund complies with the EF Guide and once the certification and the fund’s offer document are filed the JFSC aims for a 3 day turnaround on the application for approval ...
Approval process Listed Funds are established on certification by the fund administrator that the fund complies with the criteria set out in the LF Guide. The Jersey Financial Services Commission (“JFSC”) issues the relevant certificate on receipt of the certification and the fund’s offer document. As a result, a Listed Fund can be established in Jersey within 3 days ...
The SEC Division of Examinations (the “Division”) issued a Risk Alert on March 27, 2023 detailing observations from examinations of newly-registered investment advisers. The Risk Alert provides information about the typical focus areas reviewed during examinations of newly-registered investment advisers. It also provides observations regarding compliance policies and procedures, disclosures and marketing practices ...
The N.C. Building Code Council is required by North Carolina law to reevaluate the building code every six years. In light of climate change legislation enacted in North Carolina on the heels of Governor Cooper’s 2019 Clean Energy Plan, changes to the energy code are being considered that would result in an 18 percent increase in energy efficiency for new homes. These code changes are in line with the 2021 International Energy Conservation Code ...
Limited partnerships Limited partnerships (“LPs”) are now the favoured vehicles for closed-ended private equity funds and can be established in three ways: “Traditional” Jersey LPs (“JLPs”), which are similar to English LPs, are established under the Limited Partnerships (Jersey) Law 1994 ...
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (“FDIC”) guarantees bank deposits of up to $250,000. Following the failure of two banks in recent weeks, regulators created some confusion among the industry and the public when they guaranteed customer deposits above this limit claiming that doing so was necessary to stem serious systemic risk to the financial system ...
An old adage is that history will repeat itself. In other words, all of this has happened before, and it will all happen again. Another banking crisis is upon us following the familiar cycle of financial deregulation. The failures of Silvergate, Silicon Valley, and Signature Banks provide an opportunity to learn and to act. From the early 1980s through the 1990s, Presidents and Congress worked together on “financial services modernization ...
On March 10, 2023, Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank were closed by their respective jurisdictions’ financial service agencies due to a high influx of depositors making massive withdrawals in the week prior. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (the "FDIC") – an independent federal agency created by Congress to support the broader banking industry – was formally appointed by state government agencies as a receiver for both banks ...
On 1 April 2023, the Intellectual Property Rights Agency (“Agency”) issued the Notification (“Notification”) that sets out service fees for mark registration applications via Notification No. 1/2023 as per the Section 106 (d) of the Trademark Law with the approval from the Ministry of Commerce to implement the Trademark Law of 2019 (“Law”) and the Mark Registration Rules of 2023 ...
Contents Introduction of US style LLCs to Jersey Proceeds of Crime Law changes, including AMLSPs HMRC guidance on the registration of JPUTs Update on arranging as an additional limb of investment business Introduction of US style LLCs to Jersey In September 2022 Jersey enacted legislation which permits the formation of US-style limited liability companies or LLCs in Jersey ...
Contents The Lending, Credit and Finance (Bailiwick of Guernsey) Law, 2022 Updates to Natural Capital Fund framework HMRC guidance on the registration of GPUTs Changes to Guernsey’s insolvency regime Consultation on “six directorship” exemption for directors The Lending, Credit and Finance (Bailiwick of Guernsey) Law, 2022 The Lending, Credit and Finance (Bailiwick of Guernsey) Law, 2022 (the “LCF Law”) came into partial force on 1 January 2023 and will c
European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) published its final report on “guidelines of MiFID II product governance requirements” yesterday ...
March 28, 2023 By: Nicolette A. Cohen[1] On September 29, 2022, the California Court of Appeal First Appellate District, in Honchariw v. FJM Private Mortgage Fund, LLC, held a private lender’s imposition of late charges and default interest constituted an unlawful penalty in contravention of the public policy set forth in California Civil Code Section 1671, reversing the trial court’s finding ...
On 1 September 2023, the legal framework for seed farming in Russia will take effect. At present, lawmakers are preparing highly controversial regulations, which essentially aim to limit foreign investments in the Russian seed farming sector. The central idea is to implement a set of rules that require Russian companies involved in the production of agricultural plant seed varieties and hybrids to localize their activities (“Localization Rules”) ...
In the process of overseas offering and listing of domestic enterprises so far, it is necessary for the listing intermediaries (the "Intermediaries") to conduct due diligence on all aspects of the issuer. In particular, PRC lawyers are required to issue the PRC legal opinions on the history, corporate governance, business operation, major assets, tax, employment, and other aspects of the domestic enterprises ...
But what are the reasons for this? And what are the advantages of establishing a fund in Guernsey when compared to other jurisdictions? As the leading legal adviser to Guernsey’s investment funds sector by both number of funds advised and by assets, we believe that the following reasons help to explain Guernsey’s success and provide strong arguments for choosing Guernsey ...
Guernsey is a Crown Dependency. The Bailiwick of Guernsey (Guernsey, together with Herm, Sark, Alderney and the surrounding islets) is part of the British Isles but independent of the UK. It is neither a member nor an associate member of the European Union (the “EU”) and as such is classified das a third- country. Guernsey is therefore not required to comply with EU directives such as the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (the “AIFMD”) ...
On March 24, 2023, The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited ("HKEX") published its consultation conclusions ("Consultation Conclusions") regarding the proposed new listing regime for specialist technology companies ...
