March 20, 2023 By: Manuel Fishman and Mary H. Rose What a week this has been since the closure of Silicon Valley Bank. As noted in our Client Alert of last week, California State regulators shut down Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) on Friday, March 10, 2023, and appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (“FDIC”) as receiver for the bank ...
Crypto assets are assets that exist on a blockchain and are represented through a token, where the keys to the token are held in a crypto wallet. The characteristics of different crypto assets vary, depending on the code of the blockchain they operate on ...
Following a wave of recent prosecutions in relation to cash fraudulently obtained through the various Covid-19 support schemes, we consider the criminal and civil ramifications on a legitimate business which has received cash from someone who has been prosecuted and offer some helpful tips to reduce the risk of your business inadvertently laundering the proceeds of crime ...
The immediate crisis caused by the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (‘SVB’) in the US has been averted with US regulators stepping in to help customers there, and HSBC buying SVB’s UK subsidiary (‘SVB UK’). But the collapse of Silvergate Capital, SVB and Signature Bank in quick succession has somewhat sharpened focus on the potential risks in the finance industry (notwithstanding the increase in regulation, particularly over recent years) ...
Grey-listing by the Financial Action Task Force (“FATF”) has major implications for countries and companies alike. These implications include reputational damage, economic consequences, and increased compliance costs, which can lead to restricted foreign investment and reduced capital inflows ...
On February 1, 2023, the China Securities Regulatory Commission ("CSRC") solicited public opinions on the Measures for Administration of the Registration-based Initial Public Offerings of Stocks (Draft for Comment) (《首次公开发行股票注册管理办法（征求意见稿）》) ...
March 13, 2023 By: Manuel Fishman While unexpected, the closure by California regulators of, and the appointment of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (“FDIC”) as receiver for, Silicon Valley Bank (“SVB”) is an event that is contemplated by most leases. If you are holding a letter of credit issued by SVB, you are an unsecured creditor of the bank ...
In January 2023, Thailand’s Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) hosted several public hearings to gather feedback from the public on the proposed draft regulations for digital assets business operation in Thailand, including, among others, Public Hearing No. AorNorDor ...
The Federal Housing Administration recently issued Mortgagee Letter 2022-23, establishing a new COVID-19 Home Equity Conversion Mortgage Property Charge Repayment Plan.[1] The COVID-19 HECM Property Charge Repayment Plan would aid HECM borrowers in covering costs associated with standard property charges. As a condition of their loan, HECM borrowers are required to pay property charges such as property taxes, insurance and homeowner association fees related to their mortgaged property ...
China Business Law Journal Published March 9, 2023 With the growing importance of environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) and the high level of globalisation in capital and supply chains, the scope of ESG regulation is no longer confined to listed companies, the traditional targets ...
In this new podcast series "The Brexit Bonfire", colleagues discuss key elements of the legislation ranging from what it is, how it could impact businesses and key things that businesses should be aware of. In our second episode of this series of podcasts, Michelle Craven-Faulkner and Lucie Green continue their discussion concerning the Brexit Freedoms Bill but this time they consider how the current proposals could impact on commercial contracts across the board ...
Introduction The UN Convention on International Bills of Exchange and International Promissory Notes (1988) and the Convention Providing a Uniform Law for Bills of Exchange and Promissory Notes (1930), on which legislation throughout the world is modelled, assert the same principle. The assignment of funds is thus rejected as the legal principle underlying the transfer of funds ...
Continuing on from our first advisory on the P2SK Law, we delve deeper into its provisions with a specific focus on Chapter X, which covers finance services businesses. This chapter applies to a variety of entities involved in finance services, including those providing peer-to-peer lending services, and aligns with the P2SK Law's aim of promoting technological innovation in finance services while protecting consumers ...
On the 1st March, the FCA issued the remaining portfolio letters in respect of the implementation of consumer duty. For this summary, I have focussed on the motor finance portfolio letter. I had a look at what words were being used in the letter and their frequency (see the word cloud graphic). Whilst this is not a detailed analysis, it’s interesting to note the prominence of “products”, and “information” in the context of the motor finance letter ...
Financial services companies, such as banks, credit unions, lenders, finance companies, loan servicers, broker-dealers, and securities firms, often receive subpoenas from parties in litigation involving their customers, employees, and business partners. They may also receive subpoenas from regulatory organizations, government agencies, and grand juries ...
In the ‘Proposal for a Regulation laying down harmonised rules on artificial intelligence’ (the “draft EU AI Act”), transparency is regulated by Article 13 and Article 52 thereof. The former applies to systems of Artificial Intelligence (“AI”) which are classified as high-risk and the latter applies to limited-risk AI systems ...
Although admittedly still in its early phase, the metaverse, a virtual world where users can interact with each other and digital objects in a 3D environment, provides exciting new opportunities with a multitude of implications for rights management and the Fintech sector. Facebook’s head-first charge into this new landscape attests to the importance of the metaverse. Last year, the tech giant rebranded its corporate identity to Meta to signal its commitment to the metaverse ...
Blockchain litigation lead, Matt Green will be hosting our latest podcast series, 'In Early - The Crypto Podcast' - Listen to episode 8. This week is about Bitcoin and the Tulip Trading case (recently in the Court of Appeal), in which a claimant seeks to transfer his Bitcoin without a private key, looking for the blockchain’s software developers to transfer them for him ...
From television commercials to naming rights for arenas, the topic of cryptocurrency has been hard to avoid. While cryptocurrency may be virtual, its creation or ’mining’ occurs in the real world. This mining poses a credit risk for utility companies, given the incredible amount of electricity required to operate a “mining” facility. For example, crypto mining company Core Scientific, Inc ...
If the draft EU regulation on Artificial Intelligence (“AI”) titled ‘Proposal for a Regulation laying down harmonised rules on artificial intelligence’ (the “draft EU AI Act”) becomes law, investment funds could have an additional risk which would need consideration, namely, the AI risk ...
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) plans to prioritize its efforts to correct discrimination and harassment in the construction industry following a review of data that revealed the construction sector to be one of the most challenging areas in terms of discrimination and harassment cases ...
As a starting point, money in a bank account is nothing more than a contract with a promise to pay (the bank being the debtor/payer and the account holder the creditor/payee); it is a claim against the bank (an IOU issued by the bank, Norwegian: enkelt krav) held by the account holder ...
