On September 11, 2018, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) announced its first enforcement actions alleging that entities offering certain investments in cryptocurrencies should be registered as an investment adviser or broker-dealer ...
The California Court of Appeal recently upheld a lower court decision that, as we previously discussed, expanded the scope of the "public trust doctrine" to include groundwater. In Environmental Law Foundation v. State Water Resources Control Board, the appellate court held that agencies permitting groundwater pumping must consider how pumping may harm "public trust interests ...
Morgan & Morgan opened its first offices in The Bahamas since 1991. We created MMG (Bahamas) Ltd. as a corporate service and later on, in 1996, founded MMG Bank & Trust Ltd., which started our financial unit´s successful path into the financial service industry ...
As we have written in a number of previous articles1, National Treasury, together with the Prudential Authority and the Financial Sector Conduct Authority, has recently rolled out various pieces of legislation to bring South Africa closer to compliance with its G20 commitment to regulate over-the-counter (“OTC”) derivatives in South Africa. Detailed requirements are now being harmonised, including through proposed amendments to existing legislation ...
Over the past year, South Africa has seen some significant changes impacting its commercial financial landscape. On the regulatory front, there has been an overhaul of the financial sector regulatory framework, including the implementation of the “twin peaks” model of regulation, comprising the Prudential Authority and the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (“FSCA”) ...
The General Provisions referred to in Article 58 of the Law to Regulate Financial Technology Institutions (“Fintech Law”), Circular 12/2018 addressed to the Electronic Payment Funds, relative to the general provisions applicable to the operations of the Electronic Payment Funds and the General Provisions applicable to the Financial Technology Institutions (“Fintechs”), were published in the Federal Official Gazette (Diario Oficial de la Federación) on Septembe
On September 10, 2018, the Mexican National Banking and Securities Commission (Comisión Nacional Bancaria y de Valoresor “CNBV”) issued the general provisions applicable to Financial Technology Institutions (“FTIs”) (Disposiciones de Carácter General Aplicables a las Instituciones de Tecnología Financiera) (the “CNBV Provisions”), which, as of March 10, 2018, are regulated by the Law that Regulates Financial Technology Institutions
As we reported in our May 31, 2018 Alert, the California Legislature has been considering legislation to prevent joint powers authority (JPA) member agencies from contracting out of liability for the JPA's pension obligations ...
On August 31, 2018 California’s legislature passed Senate Bill 1402. Unless vetoed by Governor Brown on or before September 30, SB 1402 will allow shippers to be held jointly liable for state labor and employment law violations by port trucking companies. The bill, which was authored by Senator Lara (D-Bell Gardens), is aimed at ending the purported “exploitation of truck drivers who haul cargo from California’s ports ...
Earlier this year, the Supreme Court issued its opinion in the matter of Lucia v. SEC, 585 U.S. (2018), which held that administrative law judges of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) are considered Inferior Officers of the United States, therefore subject to the Appointments Clause (Article II, Sec. 2) of the U.S. Constitution. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of Mr ...
Following the enactment of the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has adopted an amendment to Rule 701(e) increasing the threshold amount of securities that can be sold during a 12-month period from $5 million to $10 million. Securities sold in excess of the threshold trigger enhanced disclosure obligations for the issuer ...
It’s crazy. It’s real. It’s awry. A secretly, stupendously rich man falls in love with a poor girl. His mother declares her a gold-digger. Much gnashing of teeth ensues. Beyond its simple rom-com plot, however, the film Crazy Rich Asians has a less palatable aspect to its story: inequality and our apparent acceptance of it ...
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”) issued a final rule to “Improve Tracking of Workplace Injuries and Illnesses, “ which requires employers to electronically submit their injury and illness records to OSHA. Specifically, establishments with 250 or more employees must annually submit their Forms 300, 300A, and 301. And, establishments with 20 to 249 employees must annually submit their Form 300A ...
Earlier this year, the OJK issued a new regulation on financial digitalinnovation in financial services (“POJK 13/POJK.02/2018”). This is aregulatory sandbox version of the OJK (please see our Advisory on theregulatory sandbox of Bank Indonesia issued in 2017). Definitions According to POJK 13/POJK ...
The Internal Revenue Service has released a Private Letter Ruling ("PLR") allowing a plan sponsor to make contributions to employees' 401(k) accounts if the employees are repaying student loans. This is exciting news for employers sponsoring 401(k) plans who hope to attract and retain employees as student loan debt rises to unprecedented levels. The PLR confirmed that some student loan repayment programs linked to 401(k) employer contributions are acceptable ...
In the recent budget exercise completed by the Bahamas Government, certain significant changes to the regime for Real Property Tax in The Bahamas were announced and have received a great deal of focus.It is important to take specific advice regarding the annual real property taxes which may be payable in respect of your property, how and when taxes should be paid, and the exemptions (if any) which might be available to you in respect of your property ...
All employers who were required to publish a Gender Pay Gap Report1 for the financial year 2017-2018 have now done so. A report published by the UK Parliament’s Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) Committee2 has confirmed that 78% of organisations have gender pay gaps that favour men, and that the national gender pay gap median is around 18%. The picture is worse in certain sectors, where it was found that gender pay gaps of over 40% were “not uncommon” ...
Last year Panama joined the list of countries that have established quotas as a mean for reducing the gender gap. Law 56 of 2017 creates a women quota of 30% on corporate boards of public entities and certain private entities. The Law was recently regulated through Executive Decree 241-A of 2018 ...
The Israeli Securities Law was amended (Amendment No. 63) with a goal of turning the Tel-Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE) into a more competitive, efficient and profitable stock exchange, by outlining an ownership structure change of the TASE. The ownership structure change allows private investors, in addition to institutional investors, to acquire means of control over the TASE ...
Earlier this year, the Ministry of Energy and Mineral resources ("MEMR") issued Press Release No. 00022/04/SJI/2018 to continue arranging dozens of overlapping regulations and permits ("Simplification"). So far, 90 regulations and 96 certifications/recommendation/permits ("Regulations") have started since 22 January 2018 ...
Earlier this year, the Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources (the “MEMR”) issued Regulation Number 10 of 2018 on The Second Amendment to Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Regulation Number 10 of 2017 on the Principles of Power Purchase Agreements (“MEMR Reg 10/2018”) which came into effect on 13 February 2018 ...
The regulation on the national payment gateway has finally been issued. Bank Indonesia (“BI”), through its regulation No. 19/8/PBI/2017 (“PBI 19/8”) aims to establish national payment system interoperability by implementing switching interconnectivity. The following is a general overview of PBI 19/8 ...
The Autonomous Bus and Minibus Pilot Project 1 (the “Pilot Project”) came into effect in Quebec recently. The project provides guidelines for the regulated driving of the first autonomous vehicles on Quebec’s roads ...
In order to implement Government Regulation No. 24 of 2018 which introduced an online system for processing and issuing certain business licenses (known as the Online Single Submission “OSS” system), earlier this year, the Investment Coordinating Board (“BKPM”) issued 2 new regulations on investment, ie BKPM Regulation No. 6 of 2018 on the Guidelines and Procedure for Capital Investment Licensing and Facilities (“Regulation 6/2018”) and Regulation No ...
Legislation to update US controls on foreign investment has been signed by the President and enacted into law. The Foreign Investment Risk Review Modernization Act of 2018 (“FIRRMA”) expands the scope of review by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (“CFIUS”) of foreign investment in critical and foundational technologies that impact US national security, broadly defined ...
