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 ...
Environmental groups are attempting to enlist the U.S. Department of Commerce in their fight against fracking operations and climate change by petitioning DOC to ban natural gas exports under the Energy Policy and Conservation Act of 1975 (EPCA).To read the full alert, click here ...
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) ...
On Monday, the Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) released its Clean Power Plan (“CPP”), the cornerstone of the Obama Administration’s multi-faceted regulatory approach to address climate change.1 The final rule is centered on reducing CO2 emissions from fossil fuel-fired power plants by 32 percent from 2005 levels by 2030 ...
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 ...
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 ...
Ahead of the recent election it was no secret that the Conservatives wanted to see a cut in taxpayer support for the development of wind farms. What did come as a surprise was the recent announcement by the Westminster Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) that the main form of subsidy for wind farms would suddenly be closed in March 2016 ...
In June 2015, the Superior Court of Québec sided with a real estate developer who applied for an order requiring the Quebec Ministry of Transport (MOT) to fix a highway interchange whose construction in 2007 caused the developer’s land to be flooded1. This article summarizes the court’s principal findings. The ruling has been appealed by the Quebec Ministry of Sustainable development, Environment and the Fight against climate change (MSDEF) ...
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 ...
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”) ...
Entrepreneurs are a special breed. The good ones have that special blend of vision, timing and risk tolerance most others lack. The really good ones find a way to use their special talents to make their communities a better place to live and work. Mike John is a really good entrepreneur. As we all know, the shale plays across the United States have been game changers ...
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 ...
Michigan vs. EPA, the Supreme Court continues to curtail EPA’s ability to regulate emissions from power plants by limiting the deference the Court will grant EPA on issues of statutory construction. In the 5 to 4 decision, authored by Justice Scalia and joined by Chief Justice Roberts and Justices Kennedy, Thomas, and Alito, the Court held that EPA’s air toxic standards for regulating mercury emissions from coal fired power plants were “unreasonable ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
In keeping with trends in other jurisdictions, Canada has brought into force federal rules requiring businesses in the extractive sector to publish annual reports on payments of $100,000 or more made to governments in Canada and abroad. Payments to Aboriginal governments will be covered by these rules starting in 2017 ...
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 ...
On May 23rd, Governor Abbott signed SB 709, fundamentally changing Texas’s contested hearing process for environmental permits. Effective September 1, SB 709 requires the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to adopt rules implementing its changes by no later than January 1, 2016 and to provide notice before then that these changes apply to applications filed after September 1 ...
As part of the implementation of the Mexican Energy Reform, the Mexican government has selected certain fields that will gradually be tendered to foreign and domestic companies for hydrocarbon exploration and production projects. Round One includes 109 blocks for exploration and 60 blocks for production, and covers new areas of different sizes and types of resources, including (i)deepwater, (ii)shallow water, and (iii)onshore fields ...
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 ...
The September 2014 issue of the International Financial Law Review (IFLR) included an international briefing article by then SyCipLaw senior associate and now partner Jose Florante M. Pamfilo entitled "Foreign banks gain full entry." The Philippines recently enacted a law that allows the full entry of foreign banks into the Philippines ...
