On March 28, 2013, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) issued a final order exempting specified transactions by certain regional transmission organizations (“RTO”) and independent system operators (“ISO”) from all but the general anti-fraud and anti-manipulation prohibitions of the Commodity Exchange Act (“CEA”) and related CFTC regulations promulgated thereunder (“Exemptive Order”).1 This alert outlines the Exemptive Order ...
On April 1, 2013, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) issued a final rule exempting swaps between certain affiliated entities from the clearing requirement under section 2(h)(1)(A) of the Commodity Exchange Act (“CEA”) and CFTC regulations (“Final Rule”).1 This alert outlines the rule and raises some questions as to its conditions and impact. I ...
The hacker group Anonymous announced that it, in concert with Middle East- and North Africa-based criminal hackers and cyber actors, will conduct a coordinated online attack labeled "OpUSA" against banking and government websites today, May 7. Anonymous stated that OpUSA will be a distributed denial of service (DDoS) in which websites may be defaced and legitimate users may be unable to access websites ...
In recent months, high profile M&A warranty claims1 and falling premiums have dramatically increased the utilization of "representations and warranty insurance" (RWI), also known as "warranty and indemnity insurance," in mergers, acquisitions and related transactions. By one account, demand for transactional risk insurance policy limits in North America grew by eighty-six percent (86%) in 2012 ...
Chapter 43 Philippines Rafael A Morales1 I INTRODUCTION Banks in the Philippines are classified into (1) universal banks, (2) commercial banks, (3) thrift banks, (4) rural banks, (5) cooperative banks, (6) Islamic banks, (7) government-owned banks, and (8) other banks as may be classified by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (‘BSP’) ...
Regulatory framework- 1 What are the principal governmental and regulatory policies that govern the banking sector? The government recognises the vital role of banks in providing an environment conducive to the sustained development of the country’s economy ...
Traditionally the Spanish business sector has financed its growth primarily through bank loans. However, the current restrictions on credit (derived not only from the crisis but of growing capital constraints of banks themselves) have to seek funding alternative or complementary to the bank ...
On February 1, 2013, the Supreme Court overturned a controversial decision of the Ontario Court of Appeal which granted pension beneficiaries priority over dip lenders in the context of a restructuring under the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act ("CCAA")1. The Court of Appeal's decision led many to worry that lenders would be reticent to advance funds to restructuring debtors for fear of not being able to secure charges which would outrank all other claims ...
1 The regulator The Insurance Commission is the insurance regulator. It is a government agency under the Department of Finance. The Commission supervises and regulates the operations of insurance and reinsurance corporations, which need to be authorised ...
Recently, the Superior Court rendered a decision 1 which clarifies the extent of the discretion a court has when asked to ratify a hypothecary creditor's recommendation to appoint an employee of its legal counsel to act as the officer of the court entrusted with the sale by judiciary authority of the collateral secured in its favour. CONTEXT The Superior Court had to render judgment in five cases involving very similar facts ...
On March 26, 2013, the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (“OSFI”), the Canadian bank regulator, issued an Advisory in which it identified the banks considered to be systematically important for Canada in accordance with the framework set out by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision. These banks are the Bank of Montreal, the Bank of Nova Scotia, the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, the National Bank of Canada, the Royal Bank of Canada and the Toronto-Dominion Bank ...
The decision of the Court of Appeal in the La Capitale Case has been expected since February 2012 when the Superior Court dismissed the Class Action taken against an insurer who, with the consent of the policyholder, had unilaterally modified the waiver of premiums clause in a group insurance contract2. To better understand the context, please refer to our NEWSLETTER IN JUNE 2012 following the Superior Court judgment ...
The Commodities Futures Trading Commission (the “CFTC”), pursuant to its rulemaking authority under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (“Dodd-Frank”)1, has interpreted guarantees of swap agreements to fall under the definition of a swap,2 which means that any swap guarantor must be an “eligible contract participant” (“ECP”) at the time a swap is entered into (which may occur after the date on which the guarantee and related credit facility documents are entered
Canadian ratification of the Convention on International Interests in Mobile Equipment and of the Protocol to the Convention on International Interests in Mobile Equipment on Matters Specific to Aircraft Equipment: This Bulletin is intended as a brief overview of the above-mentioned Convention and its Protocol and is not an in depth analysis of each of their provisions ...
According to December 2012 data from the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics, the unemployment rate for Gulf War Era veterans, hovering around eight percent, remains higher than the national rate. Over the last decade, more than 2.3 million Americans were deployed to military duty in Iraq, Afghanistan or both. Of that total, more than 1 million have since left the military ...
Many banks formed holding companies in the late 1980s and 1990s. They had various reasons for doing this. Some formed a holding company to hold subsidiaries providing nonbank activities. Some used the holding company to reduce state taxes in states where banks are taxed differently. Some were acquisitive, and holding companies gave them more options in acquiring banks. Some thought the holding company would help improve the marketability of the stock ...
For the first time ever, North Carolina’s Business Court and Court of Appeals both upheld fiduciary duty claims against banks in late 2012. Debtors frequently employ such claims in an attempt to shift liability for failed projects to their lenders or to pressure lenders to settle problem loans in the wake of the financial downturn. Despite their ubiquity, breach of fiduciary duty claims had proven elusive for borrowers before October 2012 ...
It appears that the industry is starting to “enjoy” a modest increase in activity as to participations, assignments and syndications. This “enjoyment” is not without more than a fair share of trepidation and reluctance, but the allure of increased revenue is difficult to withstand. Regardless of this trepidation, participations, assignments, syndications and intercreditor agreements can be done safely and profitably ...
On March 1, 2013, the Court of Appeal rendered a judgment on the insurer's duty to defend and indemnify the insured in the area of commercial general liability insurance.1 It confirmed the decision of the trial judge which had held that the insurer has the duty to defend and indemnify,2 and ordered it to reimburse its insured for the amounts paid to settle the claim of a third party and the amounts incurred by the insured in defending itself against the action ...
Only the terms of the insurance policy itself - and not the provisions of an underlying indemnity contract - determine the scope of coverage afforded to an additional insured, provided that the insurance and indemnity provisions in the underlying indemnity contract are separate and independent from one another. For additional insured and indemnity provisions to be deemed “separate and independent,” “Texas law only requires the additional insured provision to be a discrete requirement ...
On February 13, 2013, the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada (the “Agency”) issued a new guidance (the “Guidance”) to clarify the interpretation that must be given to the Code of Conduct for the Credit and Debit Card Industry in Canada (the “Code”) with regard to three issues within the Canadian payment card industry (credit or debit cards) that, according to the Agency, are not in line with some of the key principles set out in the Code ...
On Tuesday, February 19, 2013, information security firm Mandiant issued a report documenting computer security breaches at hundreds of organizations, allegedly resulting from a cyber-espionage campaign undertaken by elements of the Chinese government. The Mandiant report is only the latest in a series of much-publicized incidents of “hacking” performed by what is believed to be a variety of public and private actors ...
Pursuant to new rules and interpretations issued by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (the “CFTC”) and the Securities Exchange Commission under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act1(together with related rules, regulations and interpretations, the “Dodd-Frank Act”), a “swap” has been interpreted to include any guarantee of a swap ...
The quality of corporate governance practices increasingly represents a key factor to maintaining the trust of depositors, policyholders and most stakeholders who are active on capital markets. Considering the unique features of financial institutions and the risks arising from their responsibilities, some aspects of corporate governance are particularly important for these institutions, including banks, insurers, trust companies, loan companies and cooperative credit associations ...
