On June 16, 2020, the Securities and Exchange Commission announced a Temporary Conditional Exemption for municipal advisors (MAs), which provides an exemption from certain broker registration requirements under Section 15 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. This order is in response to the disruption in the municipal securities markets resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic ...
Airport sponsors and their legal counsel have been forced by the COVID-19 pandemic to exercise judgment and make tough decisions regarding the financial accommodations they will offer their commercial aeronautical tenants to help them weather the current storm ...
The Fintech LandscapeDevelopments in 2019 in terms of sectors were:Payments: Remittance was an area of significant growth in 2019, with a number of notable non-bank payments service providers receiving Remittance (Class B) Licences from Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM). MoneyMatch, the first graduate from BNM’s Regulatory Sandbox programme for incubating and ensuring the sustainability and regulatory compliance of fintech start-ups, was the first to receive a licence at the start of the year ...
Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) has reprimanded and fined an intermediary $6.4 million for control failures over a two year period in solicitation and recommendation of bonds to clients for execution on a third party platform ...
On 14 May 2020, the People’s Bank of China (PBOC), the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission (CBIRC), the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) and the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) unveiled the Opinions on Providing Financial Support for the Development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (together the Opinions, available here in Chinese). The Opinions propose 26 measures to implement the following policy goals: 1 ...
On 22 May 2020, the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) issued a supplemental circular introducing changes to the scope of leveraged and inverse products (L&I Products) which the SFC would accept for authorization for public offering in Hong Kong ...
On 9 June 2020, the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) began a two-month consultation on proposed amendments to the Code on Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs). The SFC intends to provide Hong Kong REITs with more investment flexibility ...
Hong Kong’s Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Authority (MPFA) has recently issued two sets of revised guidelines: III.2 Guidelines on Equities and Other Securities (Guideline III.2) and III.14 Guidelines on Default Investment Strategy (Guideline III.14). The revisions enable greater flexibility in investment in real estate investment funds (REITs). The revised Guideline III ...
The Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) issued its Consultation Conclusions on the OTC derivatives regime for Hong Kong – Proposed refinements to the scope of regulated activities and competence requirements under the OTC derivatives licensing regime (Conclusions) on 10 June 2020 ...
Does the State plan to keep special support measures in the field of taxation for taxpayers after the end of emergency situation? Yes, on 10 June 2020 the Law on Overcoming the Consequences of the Spread of Covid-19 Infection came into force, by which, inter alia, the following measures are maintained ...
While the world contends with the COVID-19 crisis and its economic and financial impact, China is quietly opening its doors to its financial sector, inviting more foreign financial institutions, banks, insurance providers and other financial service companies to set up shop in China. On March 27, the Chinese government granted approval for both The Goldman Sachs Group Inc ...
What are trademark scams? Many scam artists attempt to solicit money from trademark owners by sending notices that appear to be authentic but are meant to mislead or fraudulently induce payment for unnecessary or nonexistent services. Unfortunately, because trademark filings are a matter of public record, many bad actors utilize the filing information to prey upon the owners by seeming legitimate. An example of a widely -known scam is shown below ...
It’s 8 am, and you just learned that a material cyber-incident occurred in your organization. You fire up your Incident Response Plan. You engage outside counsel, and outside counsel engages a forensic firm. Your company, your outside counsel, and your forensic firm all sign an agreement that the forensic firm will work at the direction of outside counsel ...
Key Points Prior recessions saw increased instances of investor-favorable terms. Founders need to weigh the benefit of receiving financing now vs. the potential chilling effect on future rounds of equity investment. Founders strategizing how to raise capital in the midst of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, can look to the last Great Recession to understand investor-favorable deal terms that may be prime to make a comeback ...
Key Points IRS proposed new regulations for like-kind exchanges under section 1031. The guidance provides the definition of real property and treatment of incidental personal property in the section 1031 context. On June 11, 2020, the IRS released proposed regulations for like-kind exchanges under Internal Revenue Code (the "Code") section 1031 to incorporate the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act ("TCJA") changes ...
MDR postponement On 17 April 2020 the European Parliament decided to postpone the transition timeline to implement the EU Medical Device Regulation (MDR), which was set to expire on 26 May 2020, until 26 May 2021. The EU MDR postponement was published in the Official Journal of the European Union and entered into force on 24 April 2020 ...
The Ministry of Planning, Finance, and Industry (“MOPFI”) issued Notification No 65/2020 (“Notification 65”) which outlines additional forms of tax relief that can be availed by businesses affected by the COVID-19 pandemic in Myanmar ...
The controversial issue of whether employers can check their employees' temperatures has been much debated. Both the Employment Ministry and the Data Protection Authority (DPA) have recently changed their positions in this respect ...
Analysis of the changes to the special legal rules onthe credit and financing moratorium. Through Decree-Law 26/2020 of 16 June (“DL 26/2020”), the Government has approved, a set of amendments to the special rules onthe moratorium on financing approved by Decree-Law 10-J/2020 of26March ...
In the recent case of A Company v X,Y, Z [2020] EWHC 809 (TCC), England’s Technology and Construction Court granted an injunction restraining the Defendants (a global expert firm) from acting in an arbitration, due to breach of the fiduciary duty of loyalty to the client ...
On June 3, 2020, the President of the Republic enacted the law that governs the financial portability, which was published in the Diario Oficial today, June 9, 2020 (the “Law”), whose main provisions can be summarized as follows: I. Scope The Law sets an inalienable right to the financial portability for the “Clients”, i.e ...
New Law No. 21,234, which amends and replaces Law No. 20,009, entered into force on May 29th, 2020. This norm aims to provide more protection to consumers and extending the liability of financial institutions against payment card and electronic transaction fraud ...
On May 29th, 2020, Law No. 21,234 was enacted (the"New Law"), amending and replacing completely Law No. 20,009, which establishes the “Regime of limitation of liability for users, of unauthorized use of means of payment”, expanding its scope of application, establishing a new liability regime for and a new catalogue of conducts which constitute the criminal offence of “fraudulent use of payment cards and electronic transactions”. Modifies Law No ...
Although the data for San Francisco Bay Area remains encouraging for the first quarter of 2020*, given the economic instability brought by COVID-19, we might see more down rounds going forward. Down rounds are financings where the company is valued less than in a previous round. In practical terms this means that the new investors are buying shares of the company at a lesser price than the previous investors ...
Hand sanitiser production is just one aspect of business that's altered for £5bn industry, writes George Frier of Shepherd and Wedderburn The whisky industry continues to captivate consumers and entrepreneurs. Record exports continue and, within the sector, the emergence of new brands and the rejuvenation of existing brands demonstrate a vibrant sub-set of the Scottish food & drink economy ...
