On 16 February 2021, President Duterte signed into law Republic Act No. 11523, otherwise known as the “Financial Institutions Strategic Transfer (FIST) Act” (the “FIST Law”), which aims to reduce the non-performing loans (“NPL”) of banks due to the COVID-19 pandemic ...
On 08 March 2021, the Securities and Exchange Commissions (“SEC”) released SEC Memorandum Circular (“MC”) No. 3, series of 2021 to promulgate and provide guidelines on the filing of the audited financial statements (“AFS”), general information sheet (“GIS”), and other annual reports for the year 2021. In the said MC, the SEC announced the mandatory submission of these reports through the SEC’s Online Submission Tool (“OST”) ...
In September 2021, the House of Representatives of the Philippines approved House Bill (HB) 7425 upon its third reading. HB 7425 seeks to impose a 12% value-added tax (VAT) on digital transactions in the Philippines ...
On 12 October 2021, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (“BSP”) issued Memorandum No. M-2021-72, to provide guidelines on the submission of the reports on crimes and/or losses (“RCL”). The following are the submission procedures under the Memorandum: Banks and NBQBs shall follow the existing manner of reporting a crime and/or loss incident, i.e ...
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (“BSP”) in Memorandum No. M-2021-053 dated 13 October 2021 clarified the definition of “digital banks”. A digital bank refers to a bank which offers financial products and services that are processed end-to-end through a digital platform and/or electronic channels with no physical branch/sub-branch or branch-lite unit offering the same ...
Circular Letter No. CL-2021-080, issued on 18 October 2021 by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (“BSP”), disseminates to all BSP-Supervised Financial Institutions (“BSFI”) the Anti-Money Laundering Council’s (“AMLC”) Guidelines on Digitization of Customer Records (“DIGICUR”) adopted via the AMLC Regulatory Issuance (“ARI”) A, B, and C, No. 2, Series of 2018 ...
On 02 March 2022, President Rodrigo Duterte signed into law Republic Act No. 11647 (“R.A. 11647”) which further amends Republic Act No. 7042, otherwise known as Foreign Investments Act (“FIA”) as amended ...
Since the UK left the European Union, new rules have come into force surrounding the travel of pets. This article outlines the current position on bringing cats, dogs and ferrets into England, Scotland and Wales. Prior to Brexit, UK pet owners could travel freely with their cats and dogs between EU countries, provided their pet was microchipped and also had a pet passport ...
On May 11, 2020, the Peruvian Government enacted Legislative Decree No. 1510 (“Legislative Decree”) which delays the entry into force of the new prior merger control regime approved by Urgent Decree Nº 013-2019 (“Urgent Decree”) until March 1, 2021 and the approval of the Urgent Decree’s regulations, originally expected by May, 2020, until November, 2020 ...
Recent market volatility and the public health implications of the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19) have been unsettling. It can be stabilizing in turbulent times to take a deep breath, focus on long-term planning strategies and goals, and assess whether there might be new opportunities to enhance your estate plan ...
Earlier this week, the European Supervisory Authorities (ESAs) published draft amendments to EMIR-related regulatory technical standards (RTS) that align the treatment of variation margin (VM) for FX forwards with the supervisory guidance applicable in other key jurisdictions. More specifically the draft amendments propose that the requirement to exchange VM for physically settled FX forwards shall only target transactions between institutions (credit institutions and investment firms) ...
The 'moral hazard' provisions introduced by the Pensions Act 2004 could cause extra headaches for many corporate transactions unless steps are taken early to avoid potential pitfalls. Parties involved in corporate mergers, takeovers or even group restructurings may now need prior clearance from the Pensions Regulator to avoid being potentially liable for contributing towards a deficit in the defined benefit pension scheme of the target or investee company ...
In last year’s predictions, we surmised that the pensions industry at large had put “a busy and unpredictable 12 months” at the top of its wish list at the start of 2022. It seems like everyone enjoyed having that wish granted so much last year that they asked for more of the same in 2023 and well, we certainly got it! What started out as a steady year soon took a different turn ...
The Pension Schemes Bill received Royal Assent on 11 February 2021, becoming the Pension Schemes Act 2021. Originally introduced into Parliament in Autumn 2019, the Act covers a mix of pensions-related matters which we outline in this article. Parts One and Two set out the legislative framework for establishing a collective money purchase scheme, commonly known as a collective defined contribution scheme (Part Two extends this to Northern Ireland) ...
The Pension Protection Fund (PPF) has published its determination for the levy year 2021 to 2022, following its autumn consultation. Ordinarily, the PPF considers matters across the levy triennium with a view to keeping the rules relatively stable on a triennial basis. However, in considering the impact of COVID-19 on schemes, the PPF wishes to take a more flexible approach with the aim of switching back to a multi-year approach in 2023/24 ...
We are pleased to share the following summary about the Tennessee Business Relief Program. Key takeaways are: The money does not have to be paid back Revenue hopes to start disbursing in early July Unlike PPP and other relief programs, there is no application. A huge shout-out for the excellent summary to Jim Schmidt and Sharon Michie from the Tennessee’s Brewer’s Guild ...
When the Second Payment Services Directive1 (‘PSD2’) replaced the First Payment Service Directive, the European Union (‘EU’) introduced the requirement of Strong Customer Authentication (‘SCA’). SCA enhances the security of electronic payments through additional layers of authentication with the aim to mitigate payment fraud ...
On the 29th of April 2024, the European Banking Authority (the ‘EBA’) published an opinion (the ‘Opinion’) in which it assesses payment fraud data and identifies new types and patterns of payment fraud while developing proposals to mitigate them. In this second Payments Insight we highlight some of the most important key considerations emerging from the EBA’s Opinion ...
On 7 October 2022, Federal Law No. 377-FZ (the “Law”) came into force. The Law granted mobilized citizens and their family members the right to receive preferential payment holidays on loans (including mortgages). Follow the link to learn more. Newsletter_Payment_holidays_for_mobilized_citizens.pdf (alrud ...
In a turn of events, likely in response to the headlines relating to companies and others returning PPP loan proceeds, on April 23, 2020, the Small Business Administration (SBA) and Department of the Treasury updated the Paycheck Protection Program Loans Frequently Asked Questions to include Question 31, which has been seen by many as a change in eligibility. The CARES Act specifically suspended the SBA 7(a) loan program requirement that borrowers be unable to obtain credit elsewhere ...
On April 3, 2020, small business owners started applying for forgivable loans under the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) to help keep their workforce employed during the COVID-19 pandemic. As the program got underway, the Small Business Administration (SBA) rolled out important new guidance for small businesses, including an updated loan application form and comprehensive guidance on PPP requirements for borrowers and lenders ...
The Small Business Administration emphasizes that businesses who participate in the Paycheck Protection Program must make a good faith certification that the loan request is “necessary” to support ongoing operations due to the current economic uncertainty ...
