As an initiative to develop Islamic finance and Islamic fund management in Hong Kong, the SFC signed a Declaration on Mutual Cooperation on Development of Islamic Capital Market and Islamic Collective Investment Schemes (Declaration) with the Securities Commission of Malaysia (MSC) on 9 November 2009, which provides a framework for the mutual recognition of Islamic funds (excluding hedge funds, wholesale funds and real estate investment trusts as defined in the
Chapter 10.2 of the SFC's Code on Unit Trusts and Mutual Funds (Code) requires that pricing errors for SFC authorised funds should be corrected as soon as possible and all necessary action should be taken to avoid errors occurring in the future. If the pricing error results in an incorrect price of 0 ...
As a consequence of the recent wave of successful SFC insider dealing criminal prosecutions, responsible officers (ROs) are asking what they need to do to protect their companies and themselves. ROs are obliged to take all reasonable measures to ensure that proper safeguards exist to prevent the licensed corporation and its employees from insider dealing ...
Following the public consultation early this year on proposals for a legislative framework to upgrade the current anti-money laundering (AML) regime in the financial sector, Hong Kong's Financial Services and Treasury Bureau (FSTB) has launched a second-round consultation ...
The SFC has banned a former licensee from acting as a responsible officer (RO) for life and prohibited him from being licensed for three years. The licensee provided false evidence of his academic qualifications in support of his licence applications ...
In the case of Leung Ka Lau & Ors v The Hospital Authority [2006] HKEC 399, doctors working in public hospitals successfully claimed compensation in the Court of First Instance for "rest days" and "holidays" for which they had been deprived but lost their claim on compensation for "overtime" worked (Please refer to our newsletter issue 2006.2) ...
The decision by presiding judge William Stone has overruled the Labour Tribunal decision in January 2009 and allowed the appeal of Cathay Pacific. The Tribunal presiding officer held that line duty and ground duty allowances could be characterized as "daily wages". They were recurrent in nature, calculated on a daily basis and directly related to the number of hours worked ...
Winning the case against its flight attendants, Cathay Pacific loses against a group of pilots they sacked during a 2001 industrial dispute. The airline, one of Asia's biggest, was ordered to pay damages to each of the 18 pilots whose employment had been terminated by Cathay Pacific ...
The statutory Minimum Wage Bill (the "Bill") was gazetted on 26 June 2009 and tabled at the Hong Kong Legislative Council on 8 July 2009. The Bill will require every employer to pay employees minimum wage at an hourly rate, however it does not seek to regulate the number of hours that employees spend at work ...
In a decision that stands as a cautionary note to trustees of pension and benefit plans, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice has found the Trustees of the Canadian Commercial Workers Industry Pension Plan (the "Plan") guilty of breaching the investment rules applicable to pension plans in Ontario. 1. The Facts in Christophe The Plan’s portfolio is valued at approximately $1 billion ...
On 1 September 2009, the long-anticipated Social Security Agreement between the Kingdom of Belgium and the Republic of India (the “SSA”) entered into force. The SSA was signed in New Delhi on 3 November 2006 and is considered as a landmark agreement as it was the first treaty of its kind to be signed by the Indian authorities. Therefore it is likely to serve as a benchmark for similar agreements between India and other countries ...
THE MEMBER FUNDED PENSION PLAN: A DEFINED BENEFIT PENSION PLAN THAT LIMITS THE EMPLOYER'S FINANCIAL RISKJosée [email protected]çois [email protected] decision by an employer to offer a pension plan to its employees is an important one. Various types of pension plans may be offered, and the financial risk of the employer depends on the type of plan chosen ...
by Oleh I. Furmanchuk, Associate with AstersAccording to the 2008 Yearly Report of the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine (the "AMCU"), 658 cases regarding anticompetitive actions of bodies of power were investigated by the AMCU and its bodies in 2004-2008. In 2008, the AMCU investigated 215 such cases, demonstrating a 17.5% increase compared to the previous year (there were 183 cases in 2007) ...
At this moment, according to the Brazilian Constitution, employees may not work more than 44 hours per week. Also, whenever employees work overtime, the hourly rates are increased by at least 50%. Yet, a Constitutional Amendment Bill is being discussed in Brazilian House of Representatives in order to change such provisions. Bill no ...
Born from the free movement provisions of the EU, and reflecting UK Government efficiency objectives, the procurement rules are aimed at ensuring equal treatment and opportunity when public authorities contract for works, goods and services by requiring, in broad terms, a publicised tender process. However, disgruntled bidders have not had a happy hunting ground when seeking to challenge a suspected defective procurement exercise before the courts ...
Pursuant to Article 74, 2nd paragraph, of the Brazilian labor code, companies with more than ten employees should control the working hours of its employees by means of manual, mechanic or electronic time registers. Electronic time registers (“ponto eletronico”) have been commonly used by employers to keep track of employees’ work hours ...
Self-regulation of retail banking came to an end on 1 November 2009 with the establishment by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) of a new banking conduct regime. This new regime largely replaces the voluntary Banking Codes and comprises: 1 ...
ON OCTOBER 27TH, THE HONOURABLE JIM FLAHERTY, MINISTER OF FINANCE, ANNOUNCED AN IMPORTANT PLAN TO REFORM FEDERALLY REGULATED PENSION PLANS(1). THIS REFORM PLAN IS THE RESULT OF EXTENSIVE CONSULTATIONS THAT BEGAN IN JANUARY 2009 WITH THE RELEASE OF A DISCUSSION PAPER ENTITLED STRENGTHENING THE LEGISLATIVE AND REGULATORY FRAMEWORK FOR PRIVATE PENSION PLANS SUBJECT TO THE PENSION BENEFITS STANDARDS ACT, 1985 ...
Labour & Employment Law Update A Cautionary Tale about Temporary Layoffs A recent decision of the B.C. Supreme Court, Besse v. Dr. A.S. Mechner Inc., 2009 BCSC 1316, serves as a reminder that employers do not have the right to lay off employees temporarily (and without severance) unless this right is specified in the employment agreement. In this case, a dentist was seeking to reduce the staffing costs associated with his practice ...
On October 27, 2009 the Minister of Finance Jim Flaherty announced a number of proposed changes to the pension framework in Canada. Most of the proposed changes will be made to the Pension Benefits Standards Act, 1985 (Canada) (the “PBSA”), which governs federally regulated pension plans ...
1. Introduction As a reaction to the financial market crisis and the too-high incentives politicians have identified in the area of manager's compensation, the German government has enacted the Law on Equitableness in Executive Compensation (German: Gesetz zur Angemessenheit der Vorstandsvergütung, abbr: VorstAG) ...
Much has been and continues to be written about applications for cost-sharing under section 329 of An Act respecting industrial accidents and occupational diseases (the “AIAOD ”).Art. 329 I n the case of a worker already handicapped when his employment injury appears, the Comm ission may, on its own initiative or on the application of an employer, impute all or part of the cost of the benefits to the employers of all of the units ...
