Understanding the Gen Y mindset is crucial to riding the next wave of property sales. From selfie-taking to social media-(over)sharing, millennials are famous for many traits, but one thing is for sure: compared to the preceding Generation Xers, their love for snapping photos may be real, but their propensity to snap up new homes trails far behind ...
Earlier this year, Law No. (19) of 2017 was gazzetted which amends the procedures contained in Law No. (13) of 2008 on Interim Property Registration in Dubai. This law stipulates the procedures which developers must follow if a buyer breaches an off-plan sales contract. The new law is an important development in Dubai and will assist developers who are facing a difficult real estate market and increasing buyer default ...
Inter partes review proceedings for biosimilar products are soaring. Biosimilar makers are taking advantage of IPR proceedings to challenge patents protecting some of the world's most important biologic medicines due to the advantages that these proceedings offer: no standing requirement, no presumption of validity, a lower burden of proof and potentially broader claim construction. More than half of the IPR petitions challenging these patents were filed in fiscal 2017 ...
The draft laws implementing AMLD 4 set out strict rules to allow for protection against improper access to the information on BOs. At the of 2017, the Luxembourg Parliament published two draft laws to implement new transparency measures provided by Directive 2015/849 on the prevention of the use of the financial system for the purposes of money laundering or terrorist financing (“AMLD 4”) ...
Earlier this week, the European Supervisory Authorities (ESAs) published draft amendments to EMIR-related regulatory technical standards (RTS) that align the treatment of variation margin (VM) for FX forwards with the supervisory guidance applicable in other key jurisdictions. More specifically the draft amendments propose that the requirement to exchange VM for physically settled FX forwards shall only target transactions between institutions (credit institutions and investment firms) ...
The federal agency now well-known as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau was established by Congress in the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010. The CFPB is a uniquely independent agency, shielded from the executive branch in a way that other agencies are not. Doing away with that independence has the potential to significantly alter the CFPB and its regulatory work ...
As seen in Bank Director The process of establishing a de novo bank always has been complicated and time-consuming, and occasionally even painful. But since the beginning of the financial crisis, it seems that obtaining deposit insurance for a de novo bank has become a nearly impossible task. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. received 1,738 applications for deposit insurance from 2000 through 2008, and approved 1,258 of those applications—an approval rate of 72 percent ...
The Construction Industry Arbitration Commission of the Philippines (“CIAC”) has original and exclusive jurisdiction over disputes arising from, or connected with, contracts entered into by parties involved in construction in the Philippines. Construction disputes may range from contractual money claims to disputes over the execution of the construction work. Construction disputes may involve government or private contracts ...
Sen. Cornyn (R-TX), along with co-sponsors Sen. Feinstein (D-CA), Sen. Burr (R-NC), Sen. Peters (D-MI), Sen. Rubio (R-FL), and Sen. Klobuchar (D-MN), introduced the “Foreign Investment Risk Review Modernization Act of 2017” (FIRRMA) November 8, 2017. This proposed bill, and a companion bill of the same name introduced in the House of Representatives by Rep ...
MoneyGram International Inc. (MGI) and Ant Financial, a subsidiary of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. (BABA), announced last week the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS or the Committee) failed to approve their proposed merger. CFIUS is an inter-executive agency committee which reviews, and has the authority to reject, certain transactions that may affect the national security of the United States ...
The end of 2017 saw a number of changes in the regulatory framework of the Rwandan financial sector, the most significant of which included a change in the law governing the regulator of the financial sector (the National Bank of Rwanda) and the enactment of the New Banking Act governing the organisation of banking, both of which were gazetted in October 2017 ...
In recent months the Serbian Parliament passed amendments to Serbian tax laws, including the Law on Personal Income Tax (PIT Law), the Law on Contributions on Mandatory Social Insurance (CMSI Law), the Law on Corporate Income Tax (CIT Law), and the Law on Value Added Tax (VAT Law). These amendments introduce tax relief for salaries paid to employees in newly incorporated legal entities ...
With the aim of breathing a bit of fresh air into the Slovenian construction legislation, three new laws have been adopted recently and will be applied with effect from 1 July 2018. The current Construction Act will be replaced with both the new Building Act and the Architectural and Civil Engineering Activities Act, while the current Spatial Management Act will also be subject to certain amendments ...
After Atlanta-based developer, Carter USA, pulled out as the master developer of the Banks Project along Cincinnati’s riverfront, the project effectively stalled. However, the Joint Banks Steering Committee (JBSC), charged with offering recommendations with respect to this project, reconvened January 23, 2018 to take two actions ...
The recent end of the value-added tax (“VAT”) relief period for property developers in South Africa, who temporarily let their residential units, may have a significant impact on their cash flow. BackgroundOrdinarily, property developers acquire or develop fixed property (including residential properties) for the purpose of resale ...
SECTION 1: Market Overview 1.1 Please provide an overview of the project finance market in your jurisdiction. Project financing is a well-established finance scheme in Israel, widely implemented in the last 15-20 years. It is used for debt financing in a variety of sectors, particularly where public private partnership (PPP) projects are involved ...
As we described in our client alert dated September 14, 2016, in the aftermath of the real estate downturn from 1989 to 1993, when real estate mortgage lenders began to contemplate making new mortgage loans, they sought to create new legal structures to prevent their prospective borrowers from filing for Chapter 11, and to ameliorate the adverse consequences, if such a filing were to occur. One such structure is a device commonly referred to as the “Golden Share ...
On February 7, 2018 the SEC Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations (OCIE) issued the 2018 National Exam Program Examination Priorities. In introducing the examination priorities for 2018, OCIE describes the four pillars upon which the work of OCIE is based: promoting compliance; preventing fraud; identifying and monitoring risk; and informing policy. OCIE includes in the examination priorities factual data relating to the increase in examinations of investment advisers ...
As described in our earlierclient alert, dated September 13, 2016, under certain specific circumstances, section 1129 of title 11 of the United States Code (the “Bankruptcy Code”) permits a bankruptcy court to confirm a Chapter 11 plan and rewrite the terms of a debt instrument (including mortgage debt or mezzanine debt), including the interest, amortization, and maturity ...
Given the housing crisis, the city has enacted regulations that attempt to force a property owner to legalize an illegal unit, unless the owner can prove certain things to the satisfaction of San Francisco Planning Staff or the San Francisco Planning Commission. Long gone are the days in which an unhappy tenant or neighbor will report an illegal unit to the city and the city will fine the owner unless the illegal unit is removed ...
Best-known for its stunning natural beauty—jewel-colored waters, soft sandy beaches, and lush mountain ridges—the British Virgin Islands also excels among her peers in the international financial services industry. Notably, the Territory is relentless in its pursuit of refining and advancing its financial services legal structures and complying with worldwide regulatory regimes ...
With the Paradise papers leak in 2017 and the infamous Panama papers leak the year before, it has become increasingly more important to choose the right destination for offshore investment. It will require careful consideration, planning and skilful professional advice. It will also no doubt require a jurisdiction with a politically and economically stable environment, sound legislation, low tax (or zero tax), a solid banking framework and a discreet environment ...
On February 27, 2018, the Supreme Court resolved a split between the Second, Third, Sixth, Eighth, and Tenth Circuit, and the Seventh and Eleventh Circuit in its ruling inMerit Management Group, L.P. v. FTI Consulting, Inc. (“Merit Management”)583 U. S. ____ (U.S. Feb. 27, 2018) ...
Insolvency that stems from the obligations assumed by a joint venture may concern any of the associates. Such proceeding, especially when it has an international dimension, requires a broader perspective on some of the requirements set forth by law with respect to the initiation and application of the proceeding. Through its effects on the debtor, creditors and on the socioeconomic environment in general, insolvency is more than a mere legal procedure ...
With collective sales on the rise again, it is timely to examine factors that challenge such deals in the current cycle. It was a saga worthy of a soap opera. In 2007, Horizon Towers was on the verge of breaking the then en bloc price record when, over a period of more than two years and several flip-flopping court and Strata Titles Board (STB) decisions, minority owners eventually blocked the transaction ...
