This newsletter features a look into notable recent case law and other developments in Finnish competition law and other regulatory issues. Finnish Market Court gives its first detailed ruling on joint bidding In November 2023 the Finnish Market Court gave its judgment concerning a case on joint bidding in the field of public transport. This was the first time a Finnish court has in detail examined the lawfulness of joint bidding ...
Last week FINRA released Regulatory Notice 11-39, Social Media Websites and the Use of Personal Devices for Business Communications, to supplement its previous Regulatory Notice 10-06, Social Media Web Sites, issued in January 2010. Since January 2010, firms have revisited their policies on social media and in light of improved technology, firms are increasingly allowing use ...
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) issued a Regulatory Notice to its members (FINRA Regulatory Notice 10-22) outlining and reminding them of their regulatory responsibilities in connection with Regulation D private placement offerings. Among other things, members are required to conduct a reasonable investigation of any offering in order to satisfy suitability obligations ...
Current Regulatory Regimes Bermuda was one of the first jurisdictions to introduce sector specific laws and regulations relating to the issuance of ‘digital assets’ and the provision of ’digital asset business’ services. Bermuda's regime regulates the activities of issuers and services providers rather than the technology or digital assets themselves ...
Robo-Advisors (sometimes spelt as Robo-Advisers) are digital investment advisory platforms that provide automated, algorithm-driven financial planning services with little to no human supervision. In this article our Oluwapelumi Omoniyi takes a cursory look at the Securities and Exchange Commission’s new rules on Robo-Advisors and highlights the rationale behind the move to regulate Robo-Advisors ...
The initial proponents of Decentralised Finance (“DeFi”) opined that DeFi, as opposed to Centralised Finance (“CeFi”), could innovate the financial system by providing easier methods of payments and other financial services. The reasoning was based on the notion that transactions without a centralised intermediary in the financial system entail a simpler economy with less regulatory burdens ...
Shoosmiths’ FinTech partner, Luke Stubbs, was a speaker at the recent FinTech Week London Conference, participating in a panel discussion focused on international payments. FinTech Week London reflects the City's role as a FinTech hub and comprises a week of events culminating in a major conference, which Shoosmiths was proud to sponsor ...
Investments or acquisitions in convertible notes and options are now subject to the same approval requirements as investments or acquisitions in shares. The monetary thresholds applicable to private business investment have been raised with effect as of 1 January 2010 to total assets of the investee of A$231m and, for U.S. investors, A$1004m ...
The First Circuit recently held that complaints filed first under the False Claims Act’s first-to-file rule do not need to satisfy Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 9(b)’s particularity requirement. See United States ex rel. Heineman-Guta v. Guidant Corp., 2013 WL 2364172 (1st Cir. May 31, 2013) ...
The First Circuit recently reinstated part of a False Claims Act complaint against a drug-testing laboratory, and in so doing, may have limited the reach of the FCA’s public disclosure bar. In U.S. ex rel. Cunningham v. Millennium Labs. of Cal., Inc., 2013 WL 1490435 (1st Cir. April 12, 2013), the First Circuit held that the district court erred in dismissing the entire FCA complaint merely because the action was based in part on prior public disclosures ...
The National Security and Investment Act 2021 (NSIA) came into force on 4 January 2022. The UK’s Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) published last month its first Annual Report on the NSIA in its first three months of operation. More on this can be found here ...
Starting around October 26, 2020, the Small Business Administrations (the “SBA”) asked Paycheck Protection Program (“PPP”) lenders to provide certain questionnaires to PPP borrowers with loans of $2 million or greater. There are two questionnaire forms on the Treasury: Form 3509 for for-profit borrowers and Form 3510 for non-profit borrowers ...
The largest U.S.-based for-profit multi- campus international university became the first benefit corporation to go public on February 1, 2017 raising $490 million. This is a significant financial event and shows that the financial markets are available to companies that combine a positive social and environmental purpose along with shareholder profit ...
Barely a week ago on December 29, 2023, China's legislative body passed and President Xi Jinping signed into law the newly revised Company Law, effective from July 1, 2024 (the "New Law"). It makes a big splash to the business community for both the law's as-pillar significance, and the striking degree of revisions (over a quarter of provisions are involved with major changes) ...
Poland’s National Appeal Chamber (KIO) issued an order on 5 September 2016 of great practical significance, applying new procurement rules on the permissibility of appeals by contractors interested in bidding for public contracts below the EU thresholds ...
On 15 December 2016, Foxtel and a number of movie studios secured the first site blocking orders in Australia. The orders of Nicholas J of the Federal Court require the major Australian ISPs to block access to a number of infamous sources of illegal content, namely, The Pirate Bay, TorrentHound, IsoHunt, Torrentz and SolarMovie (Pirate Sites) ...
The new framework for assessing non-domestic property rateable values has been set out under the draft Non-Domestic Rating Bill, introduced to Parliament on 23 March 2023 – but only likely to take effect on or after 1 April 2024. As business rates policy is fully devolved, not all of these measures will apply in Wales. The more regular revaluations should keep rateable values closer to market reality ...
On 15 September 2021, the SFC issued a press release relating to the Consultation Conclusions (Conclusions) on proposals to amend its anti-money laundering and counter-financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) guidelines, approximately one year after the SFC issued the consultation paper (Consultation) on 18 September last year ...
[!<CDATA[ I have worked at two law firms and participated in dozens of interviews at both with associate candidates. Whether you are interviewing in person or remotely, there are questions for which you should always be prepared. In addition, there is information you should be ready to provide even if you are not asked for it directly. The following are the five things that I believe every law student should know before interviewing with a law firm. 1 ...
Several listed companies recently bought the music rights of world famous stars such as Bob Dylan and Taylor Swift. The payoff of investing in music mainly comes from streams revenues. But the benefits do not seem to be that bad: for instance, since Sony bought Michael Jackson's music portfolio in 2016, its stock price has quadrupled (1) ...
Several listed companies recently bought the music rights of world famous stars such as Bob Dylan and Taylor Swift. The payoff of investing in music mainly comes from streams revenues. But the benefits do not seem to be that bad: for instance, since Sony bought Michael Jackson's music portfolio in 2016, its stock price has quadrupled (1) ...
Shoosmiths’ mobility head, Jonathan Smart, was a speaker at the SMMT International Automotive Summit 2023, hosted in London. Jonathan moderated a panel discussion focused on the competitive challenges facing the UK’s automotive manufacturing sector. The summit was aimed at addressing the challenges facing the automotive sector, including building resiliency, international collaboration, unlocking potential, competitiveness and innovation ...
