On February 18, 2021, the IRS issued Notice 2021-15, which provides guidance with regard to a number of provisions of the temporary changes to the rules related to the operation of health and dependent care flexible spending accounts that were included as part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (the “New Law”), and also provides for an additional exception from the standard rules regarding Section 125 plan (often referred to as cafeteria plans or flexible benefits p
Hear directly from the CFPB about mortgage servicing in the COVID-19 era, including how the leadership transition is affecting the CFPB’s priorities and approach. From a webinar on March 3, Bradley hosted a Q&A session with Allison Brown of the CFPB's Office of Supervision Policy to discuss the CFPB’s supervisory expectations as the industry grapples with CARES implementation and other challenges arising from the coronavirus crisis ...
The Shoosmiths pensions team has hosted a webinar for non-pensions professionals, trustees and company directors to provide an oversight of pensions issues likely to effect businesses over the next 12 months ...
A NEW PATHWAY From Uber to Jumia and even older technology (tech) companies like Etranzact and Chams Plc, it is arguable that Initial Public Offerings (“IPOs”) have not offered great returns for tech companies in Nigeria and across the globe[1]. Investors are speculating on whether the great tech bubble is about to burst because, considering the cost of IPOs, tech companies have to scrutinise the expected returns when contemplating an IPO ...
Tech Companies and Fund Raising: The New Way of Going Public (Part 2) In the second part of our article, we focus on Spotify, a digital music service that utilised a direct listing to become a public company, the key steps they took that differed from a traditional IPO, and how the NSE can modify its current regulatory framework to include direct listings. Case Study: Spotify Technology S ...
For the first time, a restructuring plan has been confirmed under the new Court Approved Restructuring Plan Act (Wet Homologatie Onderhands Akkoord, or WHOA). This court confirmation illustrates how a "Dutch Scheme" comes about in practice. In this article our restructuring specialists Jelmer Baukema and Willemijn Bouman briefly discuss the court confirmation ...
By Michael Flynn, Doug Prince and Khaled Tarazi On Thursday, February 25, a Federal judge in the Eastern District of Texas ruled that the CDC tenant eviction order is unconstitutional, but did not enjoin the order. The case was brought by seven Texas landlords against the CDC, challenging the CDC moratorium order. The CDC moratorium applies to tenants who, among other things, declare economic hardship and earned $99,000 or less in 2020 ($198,000 for couples) ...
By Michael C. Flynn and Melissa Richards On February 5, a Buchalter Client Alert discussed CFPB Acting Director Uejio’s announcement that he was considering delaying implementation of the two new QM Final Rules (the “General QM final rule”, which creates a new definition for QMs generally, and the “Seasoned QM Final Rule”, which establishes a new “Seasoned QM”), and stated that the CFPB might consider changes to both rules ...
Bradley attorneys Aaron Chastain, Lee Gilley, Riley Key, Jonathan Kolodziej, and Robert Maddox authored Chapter 11: Debt Collection Practices in the publication of Consumer Finance Law: Understanding Consumer Financial Services Regulations. A global pandemic, ensuing economic decline, and mandated changes from the Dodd-Frank Act have provided greater challenges and opportunities in the consumer markets resulting in rapid change in the regulatory environment for businesses ...
Good news in times of crisis: The eagerly awaited draft of the Restructuring and Insolvency Directive Implementation Act (RIRL-UG) was published yesterday. The law with which Directive (EU) 2019/1023 (Restructuring Directive) is implemented in Austria is to come into force on July 17, 2021 (at the end of the implementation period). The review phase will run until April 6, 2021 ...
Claims of bad faith present unique challenges for insurers (and their counsel) with respect to attorney-client privilege: if the insurer’s state of mind is at issue, is the legal advice on which the insurer relied also at issue, thereby waiving the privilege? And if so, under what circumstances? The following addresses this issue in the context of a common practice for insurance counsel—authoring denial letters—and two recent holdings that should serve as warnings in th
According to the Institute for Family Business, over five million family businesses in the UK generate more than a third of UK GDP. In 2018, the family business sector paid £196 billion in tax (over a quarter of the Government's total revenue) and employed 14 million people in the UK (50% of private sector employment) ...
The UK Government has published the National Security and Investment Bill – a proposed law that will introduce a screening process for certain acquisitions and investments and which is expected to come into force as early as April 2021. The National Security and Investment Bill has now had its second reading and is expected to come into force as early as April 2021. We take a look at what it will cover ...
On 24 February 2021, the Finance Secretary Paul Chan delivered the 2021-22 Budget which highlighted upcoming government initiatives to promote the establishment of and re-domiciliation of offshore funds to Hong Kong using the Hong Kong open-ended fund company structure (OFC) ...
Earlier this month, Elon Musk revealed that Tesla, the electric car company run by the world's richest person, had bought $1.5bn (£1.1bn) in bitcoin and might soon also accept payment in the popular but controversial cryptocurrency. News of Tesla’s investment boosted bitcoin, and while lately it dropped from its record high, it appears to be rebounding. Cryptocurrency investment continues to move into the mainstream as global interest rates remain at record lows ...
On 8 February 2021, The Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) published a consultation paper on (i) the proposed code of conduct on bookbuilding and placing activities in equity capital market (ECM) and debt capital market (DCM) transactions (Proposed Code) and (ii) the “sponsor coupling” proposal (together, the Proposals) ...
This bulletin is on recent Philippine legal developments in data privacy, fintech and digital banks. PRIVACY UPDATE Caring about Sharing: New Rules on Data Sharing Agreements On December 23, 2020, the Philippine data privacy regulator, the National Privacy Commission (NPC) issued NPC Circular No. 2020-03 on data sharing agreements (2020 DSA Circular).1 The circular supersedes NPC Circular No ...
Bradley attorneys Aron Beezley and Nathaniel Greeson highlight the administrative bid protest landscape in New York given the state's abundant acquisition economy. New York state's budget is the second largest in the country, and with it, New York has some of the most developed state acquisition laws and procedures in the country. Accordingly, New York provides comparatively robust bid protest rights when it comes to state-level bid protests ...
The objective of open banking is to have a payments and markets infrastructure which provides customers with the ability to review all their banking and financial information seamlessly. Open banking will lead to a situation where regardless of how many accounts and financial products a customer has with multiple institutions, he can manage them from a centralised location without having to check out from one system to another ...
The HKMA published a report titled “AML/CFT Regtech: Case Studies and Insights” highlighting the opportunities that Regtech offers to transform the effectiveness and efficiency of Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Financing of Terrorism (“AML/CFT”) efforts, and sharing end-to-end approaches which worked in real-life examples ...
The FSI has published the BIS’s research paper titled “Fintech regulation: how to achieve a level playing field” in February 2021 (the “Paper”). The Paper explores how regulation should evolve to encourage fair competition between traditional banks and new fintech and big tech players ...
ASIFMA, together with the Future of Sustainable Data Alliance, published a paper entitled “Data Challenges and Opportunities for ESG and Sustainable Finance in Asia Pacific” – a result of a year-long review of sustainability data challenges facing the industry in the Asia Pacific ...
