Poland’s first clearinghouse for cash-free payments was established in 1990. In 1991 the first payment cards for individual clients were issued in Poland. The history of cash-free trade in this country now goes back over a quarter-century. But one of the key Polish regulations governing money—the Foreign Exchange Law—has not kept pace with the evolution of the forms in which money is used, but remains fixed in times when the dominant form of money was cash ...
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 ...
Could your institution be at risk of liability for unauthorized wire transfers and Automated Clearing House (“ACH”) credit transfers? Data security breaches continue to garner headlines, and criminals continue to engage in targeted activities to steal millions of dollars in unauthorized funds ...
Headlines should read, “Congress and President Do Something Right!” On July 28, 2015, only one day after Congress passed the matter, the President signed into law an increase in Small Business Administration (“SBA”) lending, from $18.75 billion to $23.50 billion, for the 7(a) program. One common SBA lending program, 504, was not restricted, so loans for buying and developing real estate continued ...
Congress passed the Dodd-Frank Act in June and July 2010 with minimal Republican support, and it was signed by President Obama July 21, 2010. Since passing, Dodd-Frank has been hailed, depending on who answers, as salvation for our banking system or the death knell of community banking. The American Banker published a number of articles about this act in July 2015. Most were critical, highlighting the raised regulatory burden, which is huge ...
Q: You recently took the helm of Carolina Premier. What has been the biggest surprise to you in your new role as a CEO? What has been the biggest surprise about Carolina Premier?A: Well, bankers are known not to surprise well. I like to think that my previous roles, especially working closely with NewBridge Bank CEO Pressley Ridgill, prepared me for the role. That said, I believe the biggest surprise in the new role was how quickly issues came at you ...
In a judgment rendered in the case of9210-6905 Québec Inc. (proposal of),1the Superior Court of Québec held that an interim receiver is not required to obtain a clearance certificate from the tax authorities before proceeding with the distribution of a debtor's property, and is not subject to personal liability for this reason ...
The May 2015 issue of the International Financial Law Review (IFLR) included an international briefing article by SyCipLaw partner Maria Jennifer Z. Barreto on “Electronic tax return controls.” The Philippine Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) recently required the mandatory use of electronic tax return forms by the non-electronic Filing and Payment System (non-eFPS) ...
Ukrainian banking sector reform process promotes transparency and greater accountability. The ongoing geopolitical and economic turmoil in Ukraine, which started back in 2013, has revealed the multiple drawbacks of Ukrainian banks and the vulnerability of the country's banking system as a whole. This exposure has led to a major reform effort across the banking sector that remains ongoing, with one of the key focuses being efforts to increase the transparency of Ukrainian bank ownership ...
On 28 July 2015 the newly enacted “Law on Conversion” (the “Law”) which sets out the procedure for converting the right of use into ownership rights over construction land for a fee (the “Conversion”), will come in force. The Law outlines the rules for the Conversion procedure and specifies the particular list of entities that are eligible to file for the Conversion ...
Attractive Real Estate Business in the Czech Republic The Czech property market has developed considerably in recent decades and this optimistic trend continues. According to statistical figures, the volume of commercial investment during the last twelve months to Q1 2015 in the Czech Republic reached EUR 2.6 billion, representing 90.8 % increase ...
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) has issued Proposed Rules (the “Proposed Rules”) to implement Section 953(a) of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, addressing what has been commonly referred to as “pay-versus-performance ...
On June 10, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”) issued a rule bringing non-bank automobile finance companies under its supervisory authority. Auto finance companies were already subject to the enforcement and regulatory authority of the CFPB, but under the new rule, certain auto finance companies are also subject to routine and cause-based examinations by the CFPB. The rule goes into effect on August 31 of this year ...
Standard real estate brokerage contracts generally stipulate the obligation for the seller to pay a commission to the broker in the event that an agreement for the sale of the property occurs during the term of the brokerage contract or where the seller voluntarily prevents the free performance of the contract. It is not unusual, even in the absence of an actual sale, that real estate brokers claim the payment of the commission stipulated in the brokerage contract ...
For those of us who commonly represent lenders, there is nothing more unsettling than hearing the words “course and pattern of conduct” or “dominion and control” or some variation of the same. Any suit where someone seeks to impose liability on a bank for something above and beyond the amounts loaned and repaid is a scary one for lenders (and ultimately should be a scary one for anyone who may need to borrow money in the future) ...
1. Introduction In recent years, the Belgian Parliament hascodified substantial parts of Belgian economic legislation into a new Code ofEconomic Law (“Wetboek van economischrecht” / “Codedu droit economique”). The Code of Economic Law consists of 18Books, including one on payment and credit services (“Boek VII. – Betalings- enkredietdiensten” / “LivreVII. – Services de paiement et de crédit”, “Book VII”) ...
The Fifth Circuit recently affirmed a district court’s dismissal of a federal securities fraud class action on the basis that the plaintiffs had failed to adequately plead facts establishing that the defendants, the executives of a failed bank, were severely reckless in their overvaluation of the bank’s portfolio of mortgage-backed securities.See Owens v. Jastrow, No. 13–10928, 2015 WL 3649823 (5th Cir ...
Domestic legislation1. Domestic law.Identify your jurisdiction’s money laundering and anti-money laundering (AML) laws and regulations. Describe the main elements of these laws. Law 25,246, enacted in 2000, was the first to regulate both criminal money laundering (by means of inclusions of specific money laundering and terrorism financing offences in the Argentine Criminal Code (ACC) and antimoney laundering provisions ...
What Is the Size of the Market and What Are Current Trends in Switzerland? Life Sciences is one of the most dynamic and most rapidly growing sectors in Switzerland with respect to both the industrial and the academic dimension. In 2013, the total financ-ing volume amassed by Swiss biotech companies more than doubled compared to the previous year’s figure, reaching USD 325 million, which amounts to an increase of 112% ...
The amendments to Chapter III.J.3 of the Compendium of Financial Regulations of the Central Bank introduced a new regulation on prepaid cards (Payment Cards with the Provision of Funds), which seeks to achieve greater financial inclusion by strengthening and promoting this payment method, which has not yet achieved the expected market penetration. The first draft of this regulation is from June of last year, which received many comments from both banks and regulators ...
Last June 10, the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) announced that the floor amount for obtaining a public contract dealing with services without its prior authorization would be reduced to $1 million ...
Following the regulatory workshop in Shenzhen on 5 June 2015 hosted by the SFC and CSRC/SAFE on mutual recognition of funds (MRF) between Hong Kong and the PRC, Hong Kong’s SFC has issued FAQs on the topics that were discussed.In the FAQs, the SFC offered guidance on some of the requirements for authorisation in Hong Kong of PRC funds. In summary:One-year track record: Numerous Cayman unit trusts have re-domiciled to Hong Kong ...
Over the last 10 years, considerable legislative efforts have been made towards creating a favourable framework for financing agribusiness and agricultural production in Serbia. The latest piece of legislation in that sector is a law on secured pre-harvest financing. Looking back, in 2005 Serbia introduced the national strategy on agricultural development (the Strategy), which outlined obstacles and set goals with regard to financing agribusiness and agricultural production ...
The possibility of buying real estate rests normally on the capacity of an individual or company to acquire debt, reason why credit entities play an essential role in the success of the real estate market. Lately, we have noticed that in addition to the traditional loan guaranteed by a mortgage, there is an offer for loans guaranteed by a security trust ...
Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal has held that bank enforcement titles are contrary to the Polish Constitution because they violate the constitutional principle of equality. Pursuant to this judgment, the relevant provisions of the Banking Law—Art. 96(1) and Art. 97(1)—will cease to be in force on 1 August 2016. The ruling is fundamentally important for the entire banking sector and for bank customers ...
