On August 18, the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate approved a bill introduced by the government on June 25, which establishes the emergency plan to promote economic recovery and employment. Although in its first phase, the project was modified and approved by the Chamber of Deputies, and rejected by the Senate, the new proposal submitted by the Joint Commission was approved in its entirety by the Congress ...
On Tuesday, August 18, the Congress approved a bill that contemplates several tax measures in order to inject liquidity and promote economic reactivation (the "Bill"). Among other measures, the Bill grants the possibility to Corporate Tax taxpayers who declare effective income according to complete accounting, to instantly depreciate 100% of the value of new or imported fixed assets acquired between June 1, 2020 and December 31, 2022 ...
While many of us are working from home due to the current pandemic, criminals and scammers are also hard at work from home and have been increasingly more brazen since the stay-at-home orders have been put into effect. In popular media, we see television shows such as “90 Day Fiancé,” “Catfish: The TV Show,” and others depicting people being scammed by unscrupulous individuals online who are pretending to be someone they are not ...
In order to tackle the effects of the Corona crisis, it is planned at EU level to temporarily facilitate the raising of equity capital for companies. This will enable certain issuers to publish a shortened prospectus with only 30 pages instead of a full prospectus to issue shares. Through this, issuers will have the option to issue shares at short notice, without bureaucracy and inexpensively, thereby improving the debt-to-equity ratio in their balance sheets ...
On 7 August 2020, The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited (Exchange) published a consultation paper on proposed changes in respect of the Exchange’s disciplinary regime. The proposals have a particular emphasis on strengthening the Exchange’s powers to hold accountable, and impose appropriate sanctions on, individuals responsible for misconduct and breaches of the Listing Rules ...
Businesses across the country have wondered how the new Special Inspector General for Pandemic Recovery (SIGPR) will enforce the CARES Act’s loan requirements, especially with the large number of loan and forgiveness applications. Until recently, the answer was unclear. Press releases have announced Memoranda of Understanding (MOU) between SIGPR and three U.S. Attorney’s Offices to collaborate on investigating and prosecuting CARES Act violations ...
A major economic crisis has been caused by the pandemic associated with the new SARS-CoV-2 Coronavirus and the COVID-19 disease. In this context, Law 29/2020 was published on 31 July to establish new tax measures to support cooperatives, micro, small and medium-sized enterprises. The aim of these measures it to mitigate the impacts of the pandemic on these businesses ...
The Algarve has been seriously affected by the social and economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. In this context, on 29 July 2020, the Portuguese Parliament published Resolution no. 51/2020 in which it recommend the adoption of a social and economic emergency plan for the Algarve (“Plano de emergência social e económico para o Algarve”) by the Portuguese Government. The recommended measures set out in Resolution no ...
This tax newsletter summarises the recent ruling of CESTAT, Chennai in the case of Commissioner of Service Tax, Chennai vs M/ Repco Home Finance Limited on non - applicability of Service tax on loan foreclosure charges ...
The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) recently published a report on its 12-month review of the Revised FATF Standards on Virtual Assets and Virtual Asset Service Providers, and a report on so-called stablecoins which highlighted associated risks of money laundering/terrorism financing (“ML/TF”) ...
The GFMA recently provided its response to the Financial Stability Board’s (“FSB”) consultation paper (“the Paper”) titled Addressing The Regulatory, Supervisory And Oversight Challenges Raised By “Global Stablecoin” Arrangements. The GFMA put forward certain recommendations to support the implementation of global stablecoin (“GSC”) arrangements provided for in the Paper ...
The Hong Kong Money Authority (HKMA) published a White Paper on 30 June 2020 to set out its recommendations and supervisory expectations on green and sustainable banking around four areas: governance, strategy, risk management and disclosure. The HKMA advised AIs which are subsidiaries of international banks to assess relevance of any parent bank’s climate policy in the context of its Hong Kong operations and ensure that local specialties are addressed ...
In May 2020, the Asia Pacific Loan Market Association (APLMA), the Loan Market Association (LMA) and the Loan Syndications and Trading Association (LSTA) jointly published two guidance papers on green loan principles and sustainability linked loan principles, seeking to address some of the most frequently asked questions about green loans and sustainability linked loans (SLLs) ...
Banco Nacional de Angola (“BNA”) continues to be very active in producing foreign exchange legislation. It recently revised the rules on foreign exchange operations of current invisibles, goods and capital, carried out by resident and non-resident individuals, through Notice 17/20 of 3 August (the“Notice”). The main change made by this notice concerns non-resident foreign workers (“expatriates”) ...
Since the launch of the Main Street Lending Program, the Federal Reserve (through the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, which is implementing the program) issued updates on July 15, 2020 and July 31, 2020 to the Frequently Asked Questions document (“FAQ”), originally published on April 30, 2020, for the three loan facilities available to for profit businesses ...
In order to tackle the effects of the Corona crisis, it is planned at EU level to temporarily facilitate the raising of equity capital for companies. This will enable certain issuers to publish a shortened prospectus with only 30 pages instead of a full prospectus to issue shares. Through this, issuers will have the option to issue shares at short notice, without bureaucracy and inexpensively, thereby improving the debt-to-equity ratio in their balance sheets ...
In response to a lawsuit filed by the State of New York, a judge in the Southern District of New York considered and invalidated parts of the Department of Labor's (“DOL”) Final Rule implementing the Families First Coronavirus Relief Act (“FFCRA”). The ruling, while currently only applying to employers in the Southern District of New York (i.e., New York City), could be instructive on how other courts consider the same provisions ...
In early April, the United States approved the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act (“CARES Act”) authorizing $349 billion in a small business lending program called the Paycheck Protection Program (“PPP”). For franchising, this relief package seemed like a no-lose program ...
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP, the Central Bank of the Philippines) issued on July 7, 2020, Circular No. 1089, which sets out the Payment System Oversight Framework (Oversight Framework). This is in line with the BSP’s mandate under Republic Act No. 11127 (National Payment Systems Act) to ensure a safe, efficient, and reliable national payment system through an effective regulatory and governance framework ...
On 10 July 2020, the MA issued an updated Guideline, superseding the 2018 version. The Guideline provides guidance in relation to the Banking Ordinance’s minimum criteria for obtaining a banking or deposit taking license. Several technical changes have been made following recent changes to the supervisory regime ...
(a) ARRC’s best practice for completing LIBOR transition In May 2020, the Alternative Reference Rates Committee (ARRC), the industry group formed in 2014 to lead the LIBOR transition in the United States, published a set of recommended best practices (“Best Practices”) to help market participants to prepare for the discontinuation of LIBOR by the end of 2021 ...
In the recent English case of Lamesa Investments v Cynergy Bank [2020] EWCA Civ 821, the Court of Appeal (“CA”) affirmed the High Court (“HC”)’s ruling that non-US financial institution borrower Cynergy’s (a) refusal to pay Lamesa did not constitute a default where the ultimate beneficial owner of Lamesa remained a blocked person under US sanctions law based on a clause in the facility agreement that Cynergy would not be at fault if a sum was not paid
Panama, 24 July 2020. By means of Rule JD-01-2020, published in the Official Gazette No. 29076 of 24 July 2020, the Superintendence of Non-Financial Regulated Persons (SNFR) has established a set of rules and obligations imposed to attorneys and accountants whenever they incur in any of the regulated activities under Law 23 of 2015, which relates to prevention of money laundering, financing of arms of mass destruction and financing of terrorism ...
This is a briefing of the latest COVID-19 related issuances of the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) as of 8 July 2020: A.1. Filing of General Information Sheet (“GIS”) and Audited Financial Statements (“AFS”) A.2. Extension of Deadline for Filing of AFS of Corporations within the Jurisdiction of SEC Cebu Extension Office B ...
