Welcome to the new half-yearly review of Krogerus' highlights! In this newsletter, we will share recent case highlights, firm news and insights. Foreword As 2024 draws to a close, it has been a busy year at Krogerus, despite challenging market conditions and ongoing geopolitical uncertainties. While there is still a degree of darkness and uncertainty in the world, we are seeing positive signs in the transactional market, which often signal the start of economic recovery ...
In an era of increasing data breaches and cyberattacks, businesses face mounting risks that can lead to financial, reputational, and operational damage. The cost of a data breach reached an average of $4.88 million in 2024, a 10 percent increase from the previous year ...
Implications of the Finance (2025 Budget) (Jersey) Law 202- for property transactions Stamp duty relief for group company transfers Perhaps the most welcome change is the long-overdue introduction of stamp duty relief for group company transfers of immovable property. To date, transactions between companies within the same corporate group have been subject to stamp duty at the full rates, disincentivising corporate property restructures ...
Acquisition by a Company of its own Shares The Companies (Guernsey) Law, 2008 (as amended) (the “Law”) permits a Guernsey Company to acquire its own shares. Listed companies may use this mechanism to return surplus cash to shareholders, to enhance earnings per share or net assets per share, or to adjust gearing ratios. Listed funds may wish to provide greater liquidity in their shares, especially if the market for their shares is relatively narrow ...
Carey Olsen advises MNRPF on £450 million longevity swap transfer The transaction, which will form part of MNPRF's investment portfolio, protects MNRPF against longevity risk and enhances security for MNRPF members. The Carey Olsen Guernsey corporate team advising on the transaction comprised partner Tony Lane and senior associate Arya Hashemi. Linklaters acted as onshore counsel for the trustee and Eversheds Sutherland acted as onshore counsel for MetLife ...
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has released its long-anticipated final rule on patent fee adjustments (“Final Rule”). Set to take effect January 19, 2025, these changes represent the most significant fee restructuring since 2020. The changes aim to generate sufficient revenue to recover the USPTO's operational costs, while promoting efficient patent prosecution practices. Here's what patent applicants and owners need to understand about the upcoming changes ...
Carey Olsen advises Keyex Limited on successful application for registration as a BVI VASP Keyex provides a platform for cryptocurrency exchange including buying, storing, trading and selling digital assets. Its registration is amongst the first to be approved under the VASP Act, which aims to position the BVI as a leading jurisdiction for digital asset innovation globally ...
The European Blockchain Sandbox (the ‘Sandbox’) is a pan-European dialogue between innovators who come up with particularly interesting, original and useful applications for blockchain technology, and the relevant regulatory authorities that would be involved in such a project. The Sandbox is running from 2023 to 2026 and each year is supporting 20 use cases on the European Blockchain Services Infrastructure (EBSI) ...
Family offices which choose to manage their global investments from Malta have been given a new legal exemption through a recent amendment in the applicable investment services rulebook of the Malta Financial Services Authority (“MFSA”). On the 27th of November 2024, the MFSA issued a circular titled “Establishment of Single Family Offices in Malta” ...
Nearly four years after the coming into force of the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (?CUSMA? or the ?Agreement?), U.S. President-elect Donald Trump announced on November 25 that he intends to implement a 25% tariff on all products entering the United States from Canada and Mexico, starting on the first day of his presidency, January 20 ...
Carey Olsen advises Guernsey 'first of its kind' captive assisted buy-in The transaction involved the issue of a c£500 million BPA contract by M&G's wholly owned subsidiary, The Prudential Assurance Company Limited ("PAC"), to a UK pension trustee. As with a traditional buy-in transaction, under the BPA, PAC insures the trustee's liability to its pension scheme members ...
Artificial intelligence (‘AI’) is revolutionising various industries and in today’s consumer-driven world, ensuring the safety of products is of paramount importance, more so when considering the innovative products being placed on the market. At the core of the AI Act [1] are requirements that providers, manufacturers, importers, and distributors of AI systems must meet before making an AI system available for use or distribution on the Union market ...
The presidential and congressional campaigns brought considerable disagreement on a number of platform issues that were constantly in the daily news cycle. Each brings their potential political polarization, yet we heard less about economic development incentives that often bring bipartisan support. Many of these vehicles lead to accomplishing the common goals of stimulating economic development and community revitalization ...
On November 7, 2024, Bill C-244, An Act to amend the Copyright Act (diagnosis, maintenance and repair)1 received royal assent, adding a new exception to the provisions governing technological protection measures (TPM) in the Copyright Act (CA). This legislative amendment adds section 41.121 to the CA, making it legal to circumvent TPMs for product maintenance, repair and diagnosis. What it means The new section 41.121 is expected to have a limited impact on the Canadian repair market ...
On Oct. 10, Attorney General Merrick Garland announced that TD Bank pled guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering and agreed to pay over $1.8 billion in penalties to resolve the U.S. Department of Justice's investigation into money laundering and Bank Secrecy Act violations. When combined with agreements with the Federal Reserve, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the U.S ...
The new Network and Information Systems Directive (NIS2) came into effect on 18 October 2024 and with it comes an overhaul of the way in which cybersecurity risk management is regulated in Europe. In this article we cover the applicability of NIS2 to digital infrastructure providers and digital services providers (collectively “digital providers”), an expansion in scope under NIS2 that represents a major shift for the EU’s digital sector ...
SyCipLaw Senior Partner and Head of Banking, Finance & Securities Department Philbert E. Varona, Partners Mark Xavier D. Oyales, Ricardo Jesus E. Gutierrez, and Associate Marcella Maria L. Karaan contributed the Philippine chapter of the new Chambers Project Finance 2024 Global Practice Guide ...
SyCipLaw Senior Partner and Head of Banking, Finance and Securities Department Philbert E. Varona, Partners Jan Celine C. Abaño-Ranada, Camille Angela M. Espeleta-Castillo, and Ricardo Jesus E. Gutierrez prepared the Philippine chapter of the latest Chambers Debt Finance 2024 Global Practice Guide (GPG) ...
Introduction Directive No. 19 (the “Directive”), issued by the Central Bank of Malta (the “CBM” or the “Central Bank”) on the 7th July 2021 officially came into effect on 1st January 2022, with amendments issued in September 2024. It applies to all paper-based instruments issued, processed, or encashed within Malta’s jurisdiction, as long as these instruments are denominated in euros ...
Blockchain 2024 - Bermuda (Legal 500) 1. Please provide a high-level overview of the blockchain market in your jurisdiction ...
Metro Bank PLC was fined £16,675,200 (after a 30% discount) by the Financial Conduct Authority for failings in its transaction monitoring systems and controls. The FCA found that the bank’s failures led to the risk it was inadvertently being used for the purposes of financial crime. Key facts: Metro Bank PLC implemented an Automated Transaction Monitoring System (“ATMS”) to monitor customer transactions ...
Carey Olsen advises on sale of SandpiperCI's food retail business to Morrisons The Carey Olsen Jersey corporate and property teams led this cross-border acquisition, which included a pre-completion group reorganisation and advice on real estate, finance, employment, and pension matters for stores operating across Jersey, Guernsey, and Alderney ...
November 15, 2024 By: Artin Betpera, Christina Morgan and David Liu I. Introduction Any business operating a website needs to be aware of the proliferation of lawsuits targeting websites which use any type of customer tracking technology. While advantageous to the business in its marketing efforts, the data collection subjects the business to potential liability ...
Chapter 647 of the Laws of Malta, titled the Markets In Crypto-Assets Act (hereinafter referred to as “Chapter 647”), integrates all aspects of Regulation (EU) 2023/1114 of the European Parliament and Council on markets in crypto-assets (“MiCAR”) ...
