In last quarter’s issue, we discussed the rise of digital currencies and the blockchain, or distributed ledger, technology that supports them. We now turn our focus to how the financial industry and governments have embraced this technology and are working to adapt it to traditional banking services and applications as far ranging as recording property transfers and safeguarding nuclear missiles ...
The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) recently published a report on its 12-month review of the Revised FATF Standards on Virtual Assets and Virtual Asset Service Providers, and a report on so-called stablecoins which highlighted associated risks of money laundering/terrorism financing (“ML/TF”) ...
The attorney-client privilege is a cornerstone of the legal practice. The privilege protects the confidentiality of communications between a client and an attorney from disclosure to a third party when the communications are intended to be confidential and the confidentiality is not waived ...
State and local governments throughout the nation are struggling to address the financial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, or CARES Act, enacted by Congress on March 28, 2020 appears to provide insufficient funding, and many state and local governments need more federal financial assistance ...
Since the launch of the Main Street Lending Program, the Federal Reserve (through the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, which is implementing the program) issued updates on July 15, 2020 and July 31, 2020 to the Frequently Asked Questions document (“FAQ”), originally published on April 30, 2020, for the three loan facilities available to for profit businesses ...
In a judgment handed down on 14 June 2022 in The Federal Republic of Nigeria v JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A [2022] EWHC 1447 (Comm) (FRN v JPMC) the court again considered the scope of the Quincecare duty and gross negligence. The decision is good news for Banks. The case related to the payment of over $1 billion by JPMorgan Chase (JPMC) to accounts held by a Nigerian company called Malabu Oil and Gas Limited (Malabu) ...
In April 2024, the FCA issued practical steps and finalised guidance on the Anti-Greenwashing rule, effective from 31 May 2024, ushering forth the FCA's regulatory priority accorded to ESG and sustainability. On 28 November 2023, the UK Financial Conduct Authority (“FCA”) published consultation paper, GC23/3, (the “CP”) outlining its proposed guidance on the Anti-Greenwashing rule (ESG 4.3.1R, the “Rule”) ...
The EU published a report on 18 April 2024, ‘Much More than a Market’.1 The reasons behind the call for the report are the EU’s concerns that just over 30 years after its creation there are important aspects of the Single Market that are not complete, and that the world is very different to what it was 30 years ago ...
The new year, 2022, will be the year in which cryptocurrencies gain more legitimacy worldwide through government regulation, oversight and further acceptance. Indeed, in December 2021, the Dubai World Trade Centre announced that it will become a crypto zone and a regulator for cryptocurrencies and other virtual assets - including digital assets, products, operators and exchanges. In September 2021, the country of El Salvador officially recognized Bitcoin as legal tender ...
The London Interbank Offered Rate (“LIBOR”) is expected to cease after the end of 2021. In particular, LIBOR-linked loans may not be offered after Q3 2020. This will impact the variable rate in LIBOR-linked financial products. Since the 1980s, LIBORhas been used widely as an interest rate benchmark to calculate the interest rate applicable to financial products. These rates are written into loans, derivatives agreements, and many other contracts ...
Open banking is an emerging financial services model that focuses on the portability and open availability of customer data held by financial institutions. It involves opening up banking systems, particularly customer data, to third parties to allow them provide services directly to customers ...
Jeremy Hunt’s speech on 9th December heralds the (delayed) arrival of the anticipated reform of consumer credit in the UK…and much more. But will the fanfare live up to the industry’s expectations? The financial services sector have faced unprecedented challenges over the last few years, particularly those involved in the provision of consumer credit ...
A new report by Shoosmiths, in partnership with Beauhurst, shows that the number of venture capital ‘megadeals’ in the UK has increased tenfold over the last decade. In 2011 a modest five ‘megadeals’ (where £50 million or more is invested into a company) occurred, compared with an astounding 51 megadeals in the first half of 2021 ...
LAST JUNE WE DISCUSSED THE COURT OF APPEAL DECISION IN STONEHAVEN COUNTY CLUB1, WHICH DEALT WITH THE APPLICATION OF SECTION 139 BIA TO A CLAIM BY INVESTISSEMENT QUEBEC.2 THE COURT OF APPEAL HAS RULED ON THE SCOPE OF THIS SECTION ONCE AGAIN ...
Drawing a cheque which is dishonoured due to insufficient funds will not be a criminal offence after 2 January 2022, when Federal Decree No. 14/2020 (the Decree) comes into effect. Here is a quick primer on the changes that the Decree will introduce. The highlight of the Decree is the decriminalisation of the act of drawing a cheque which is dishonoured due to insufficient funds ...
In a typical consumer bankruptcy, a debtor seeks the benefit of two concepts. First, the debtor seeks the breathing room afforded that debtor by the automatic stay. Second, the debtor seeks to discharge all debt obligations adjudicated in the bankruptcy case. Absent these protections, a bankruptcy filing serves little purpose. As a result, a creditor who can attack the debtor's entitlement to a discharge threatens the very heart of any filing ...
The Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Bill (the Bill) completed the legislative process and received Royal Assent on 24 May 2024 and is now law. The changes introduced by the Bill include better protection for consumers in relation to subscription contracts, regulation of fake reviews, the display of ecommerce pricing information (to avoid ‘drip pricing’) and enhanced enforcement measures (including GDPR style fines) against non-compliant traders ...
Confinement and strict measures of social distancing are now part of the reality of millions of people around the world. Given the uncertainty presented by the world panorama in the economic, political, social and cultural fields, the authorities must go one step further to try to mitigate the severe consequences that the COVID-19 pandemic has caused globally ...
With the COVID-19 Inquiry (“the Inquiry”) now open, and applications for Core Participant status for Modules 1 and 2 currently being assessed, potential applicants will need to consider how their participation in the Inquiry will be funded. Section 40 of the Inquiries Act 2005 provides that funding for legal representation can be awarded out of the Inquiry budget. As the Inquiry will be funded by the government this is, in effect, public funding ...
The prosperous and globalized world as we know it has been suddenly slammed. Henry Kissinger, in his article published in WSJ on April 4, states that the historic challenge for the current leaders will be to manage the crisis while building a new future. If they fail, the world would be set on fire. He also says that nations rely on their institutions to foresee and deal with calamities, to arrest their impact and to restore stability ...
Quebec Law has for a long time distinguished the personal guarantor from the real guarantor: a personal guanrantor is personally bound to repay a creditor should the principal debtor fail to perform its obligations; a real guarantor does no more than give some of its assets as collateral to a creditor, and unlike a personal guarantor, is not personally bound to repay the loan granted to the principal debtor ...
The final Default Regulations, issued in terms of section 36 of the Pension Funds Act, were recently issued by the South African Minister of Finance. They aim to provide retirement funds with greater discretion and flexibility in relation to their default investment portfolios and annuity strategies. To comply with the regulations, many funds will need to amend their rules and investment policy statement ...
Tourism and event industries are suffering and it is expected that manufacturing enterprises will soon be affected as well. Short-time work can provide a remedy and reduce the economic consequences of the coronavirus for employers and employees ...
On September 8, the Canadian Department of Finance announced the signature of a memorandum of agreement (the "Agreement") between the provinces of British Columbia, Ontario, Saskatchewan and New Brunswick, and the federal government (the "Participating Jurisdictions") formalizing the terms and conditions of the Cooperative Capital Markets Regulatory System (the "Cooperative System"), a project to set up a national regulator for the Canadian securities industry ...
"For the full transition to the European principles and standards in Ukraine should ensure transparency in the area of registration and transfer of ownership of land holdings"As the market is structured agricultural land in Ukraine? What is it different compared to European countries?
