COVID-19 has thrust the world into recession and its rippling effects have given rise to rapid and accelerating changes. Many businesses have moved or expanded into online channels as we collectively begin to embrace and advance headlong into an increasingly digitalized society ...
[!<CDATA[ The unprecedented speed of the collapse of the former Afghan central government is a humanitarian tragedy. The magnitude of which is rightfully distracting from the immediate near-term and long-term legal issues that those who supported the coalition efforts in Afghanistan are compelled to address as the immediate human concerns fade from the spotlight. In particular, U.S ...
Royal Court of Jersey (MacRae, Deputy Bailiff, and Jurats Crill and Dulake) The judgment concerned an application by a Trustee of two Jersey law trusts for the blessing of its decision to give effect to an agreement between beneficiaries regarding division of the trust assets. A key aspect of the agreement was the addition of the late settlor’s widow to the beneficial class of one of the trusts in order for her to receive benefit under it ...
Another wave of COVID-19 has spread all over Thailand and is raising understandable concerns and generating uncertainty among the business community. With this series of infographics, we take this opportunity to guide you on the key measures and best practices to help you mitigate the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on your business. Today, we guide you through the debt restructuring options available in Thailand for local or foreign investors ...
Another wave of COVID-19 has spread all over Thailand and is raising understandable concerns and generating uncertainty among the business community. With this series of infographics, we take this opportunity to guide you on the key measures and best practices to help you mitigate the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on your business ...
September 2021 has seen the issuance of Circular 009 on the Usage of Khmer Language and Currency in Accounting Records and Financial Statements (“Circular 009”) and Notification No. 355 on Inspection Visits and Implementation of Interim Fines for Violations of Law on Accounting and Audit (“Notification 355”). We set out the salient points in Circular 009 and Notification 355 below for your reference ...
Background On 10 September 2021, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) and People’s Bank of China (PBoC)released their respective implementation rules in connection with the cross-boundary Wealth Management Connect (WMC) pilot scheme in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) ...
On September 2, 2021, General Secretary Xi Jinping announced in his speech at the Global Trade in Services Summit of the 2021 China International Fair for Trade in Services, that China would continue to support the innovative development of small and medium-sized enterprises, deepen the reform of the NEEQ (as defined below), establish the Beijing Stock Exchange, and build a main position to serve innovative small and medium-sized enterprises ...
A new report by Shoosmiths, in partnership with Beauhurst, shows that the number of venture capital ‘megadeals’ in the UK has increased tenfold over the last decade. In 2011 a modest five ‘megadeals’ (where £50 million or more is invested into a company) occurred, compared with an astounding 51 megadeals in the first half of 2021 ...
On September 3, the executive presented to Congress the anticipated draft of the "FinTech Law", the new regulation that proposes a legal framework applicable to FinTech companies in Chile (the "Bill"). Until now, FinTech companies in Chile have operated without their own or specially designed legal framework, which has generated a series of regulatory inconveniences that have impacted their business model and hindered the development of these technologies in Chile ...
On 7 July 2021 we hosted the second event in our webinar series on International Arbitration, Regional Perspectives and focused on arbitration in Asia ...
In seeking to address the impact of climate change within Hong Kong’s fund management industry, the SFC has introduced new climate-related regulatory requirements for fund managers in relation to disclosures and to their investment risk and management processes. In this ten-minute podcast, Jeremy Lam outlines key features of the new regime, the timeframe for implementation and how best to plan ahead ...
as published in the Fall 2021 issue of West Virginia Banker magazine As the world (hopefully) comes out of the COVID-19 pandemic later this year, the way we conduct business is changing. The banking industry, described by one commentator as “the most old-school of the old-school professions,” is criticized as being resistant to change. As one article described it, “the fundamental ways that financial institutions function have not changed with the times ...
In the context of the current COVID-19 pandemic, new measures were approved to enable companies to increase their cash flows. Payments on account (FY2021) Taxpayers who are cooperatives or have obtained in the 2020 fiscal period a turnover up to the maximum limit set for their classification as medium-sized enterprises (i.e ...
Businesses in Thailand are facing a difficult road ahead. The latest wave of COVID-19 infections continues to hammer the economy, further delaying a recovery that many companies were counting on to relieve their financial woes. Those struggles have been considerable. According to the National Economic and Social Development Council (NESDC), Thailand’s gross domestic product shrank by 6.1% in 2020 – the steepest decline since the Tom Yum Kung financial crisis of 1997 ...
Corporate/M&A Amendments to the Main Market Listing Requirements following Enhanced IPO Framework On 11 August 2021, Bursa Malaysia Securities Berhad (“Bursa Securities”) reviewed the Main Market Listing Requirements (“MMLR”) to ensure parity of regulation with the Securities Commission Malaysia’s (“SC”) introduction of an enhanced initial public offering (“IPO”) framework which took effect on 1 January 2021 ...
This is the first article in 'Back to Basics', a series of articles looking at insolvency processes in Scotland. In this article I examine the court process for winding up a company. A winding up petition is a form of legal action that can be used when a company is unable to pay its debts as they fall due. Sections 122 to 124 of the Insolvency Act 1986 (‘the Act’) deal with how to wind up a company in Scotland ...
The government has confirmed its intention to establish eight new Freeports in Solent, East Midlands Airport, Felixstowe & Harwich, Humber, Liverpool City Region, Plymouth & South Devon, Teesside and Thames. In our latest Freeport bitesize briefing, we look at some of the potential commercial contracts and supply chain opportunities for businesses looking to operate in these Freeports. There are generous customs and taxation benefits within Freeport sites ...
Regulation 603/2021 was approved by the Governing Board of the Institute of Public Markets, Real Estate and Construction I.P. (“IMPIC”) and came into force on 5 July 2021. The aim of this regulation (“Regulation”) is to establish and regulate the procedures to be adopted in the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing in the real estate sector ...
Since the G7 meeting on 5 June when the G7 finance ministers announced a global corporation tax of at least 15%, there has been much written and spoken about the new proposed global minimum tax rate. Janet Yellen, the US Treasury Secretary, called the agreement a “historic day for economic diplomacy” ...
In a sign that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission continues to ramp up its enforcement efforts, the SEC last week in In re: Healthcare Services Group Inc. charged a health care services company and its chief financial officer and controller as part of the Division of Enforcement's Earnings Per Share, or EPS, Initiative. A Sept ...
On August 31st, 2021, with 64 votes the Congress approved the Law regarding the Creation of the Bitcoin Trust (“FIDEBITCOIN”), by means of which a trust is constituted in the Development Bank of the Republic of El Salvador (“BANDESAL”), to benefit the users of the National Wallet, represented by the Republic of El Salvador, whose purpose will be to support the alternatives for bitcoin convertibility provided by the Salvadoran Government ...
The World Trade Organization (‘WTO’) has always been of the view that Indian export subsidy schemes like Merchandise Exports from India Scheme (‘MEIS’), Export Oriented Units (‘EOUs’), Service Export Incentive Schemes are principally in violation to the Subsidies and Countervailing Measures Agreement (‘SCM Agreement’) ...