Frank C. Aase has more than 16 years of experience assisting companies facing financial challenges, providing support to banking and company clients. He is regularly appointed as a trustee in bankruptcy and serves as the leader of the Norwegian Bar Association’s legal committee for bankruptcy, composition, security rights, enforcement, and debt collection. Frank comes from Brækhus Advokatfirma, where he previously served as managing partner ...
Another great year for the Ocean team at SVW has ended. The Shipping industry had a great year, as we have witnessed it through our clients’ engagements. More steps have been taken toward environmentally smarter investments by many clients, not only within the fuel engine options in new-building orders, but also piloting strategic joint ventures and collaborations in the fuel terminals infrastructure (hydrogen/ammonia), as well as power plants ...
January 2, 2024 By: Braeden Mansouri and Alicia Guerra The California Legislature’s laser focus on addressing the state housing crisis did not subside during the 2023 legislative session. While legislators proposed over 150 housing bills, only a fraction of those bills were approved by both chambers. Still, Governor Gavin Newsom signed 56 housing bills into law ...
January 2, 2024 By: Leah Lively and Alexandra Shulman It is a new year, which means new employment laws for employers in the Pacific Northwest. The following is a brief overview of significant new laws and changes for Washington and Oregon employers (all effective January 1, 2024). Washington Increased Minimum Wage: The Washington state minimum wage is now $16.28 per hour. Local minimum wage rates are higher: The Seattle minimum wage is now $19 ...
Guernsey: an ideal domicile for continuation funds Guernsey provides an ideal domicile for continuation funds, with proportionate, principle-based regulation, and a neutral tax environment, facilitating quick-to-market establishments and competitive ongoing costs ...
Carey Olsen's Steven Rees Davies recognised as leading FinTech and blockchain practitioner Who Who's Legal has featured Steven in its 2023 FinTech and Blockchain Report, which recognises leading FinTech and blockchain legal practitioners from across the world. The report showcases lawyers with extensive experience in the FinTech and blockchain space and those that are well practised in assisting clients with implementing blockchain solutions and providing cyber security advice ...
Inflation and increasing interest rates continued to dominate headlines in financial markets in 2023. As central banks struggled to combat inflation and interest rates continued to increase, borrowers’ borrowing costs increased throughout the year. Increased borrowing costs caused some borrowers to default on their loans, requesting waivers and amendments or initiating a restructuring of their debt ...
Mergers – recent cases On 15 December 2023, Nordea’s acquisition of Danske Bank’s private customer portfolio was unconditionally cleared after a phase II investigation. The market for banking services holds great significance for Norwegian consumers, prompting a thorough examination of Nordea’s acquisition of Danske Bank’s private customer operations by the NCA ...
Norway fully integrated the provisions of PSD2 and the Payment Accounts Directive into its legal system with the entry into force of the new Financial Agreements Act on January 1, 2023. The Norwegian Central Bank made significant strides in its exploration of digital central bank currency, completing the fourth phase of its initiative. This phase focused on testing and validating technical solutions, with findings reported on December 18, 2023, indicating successful outcomes ...
Climate and environment In November 2023, SVW assisted Greenpeace and Nature and Youth Norway in a new climate case before the District Court of Oslo. The plaintiffs challenge the validity of three new oil field approvals on the Norwegian Continental Shelf and ask for a temporary injunction ...
****Dear Ladies and Gentlemen,**** We would like to update you on recent precedent-setting judgements by Russian courts in matters involving foreign businesses that decided to leave Russia. On 17 October 2023, the Arbitrazh court of Moscow city sustained the claim by Russian bank PJSC Sovkombank against Citibank N.A. (a US company) and its Russian subsidiary JSC KB Citibank concerning the joint recovery of US$24m in losses1. On 21 December 2023, an appeals court upheld the judgement ...
Beginning January 1, 2024, companies created or registered in the United States will have to report information about their ownership to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), a bureau of the U.S. Department of the Treasury, pursuant to The Corporate Transparency Act (“CTA” or the “Act”). For more information, see our prior alert on this topic here ...
By: Daniel Silva, Sanjay Bhandari, and Manisha Malhotra The Paycheck Protection Program (“PPP”) emerged as a lifeline for small businesses grappling with the unprecedented challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. Lenders navigated a landscape of regulations that Congress quickly drafted in response to the pandemic. These regulations and obligations evolved, subtly yet materially, from the first and second rounds of PPP “draws ...
Enhanced obligations for the employer in reorganizations and redundancies From January 1, 2024, certain employer obligations that previously applied to each separate company will now extend to all companies within a corporate group. The legislative changes mandate that the employer is obliged to consider (and offer to the employee) other suitable work throughout the group, even if the employee is not formally employed in any of the other companies within the group ...
Embezzlement and fraud within nonprofit organizations has reached epidemic proportions. According to the Association of Certified Fraud Examiner’s (2020) Global Study which contains an analysis of 2,504 cases of occupational fraud that were investigated between January 2018 and September 2019, 70 percent of frauds occurred in nonprofit organizations ...
The Norwegian real estate market in 2023 has been characterized by uncertainty regarding inflation and interest rates. The key interest rate is right now at 4.5%, which is the highest rate since the financial crisis in 2008. As a consequence of the aforementioned uncertainty, we have seen decreased investments in the real estate market in 2023 compared to recent years ...
December 27, 2023 By: Philip Nulud and Sylvia Cheong In October, 2023, Korea passed a new trademark law to add flexibility to its strict trademark registration requiring that later-filed marks need to be completely unique from existing senior marks. Under current trademark law in Korea, a later-filed mark that is similar to a senior mark already registered with the Korean Intellectual Property Office (“KIPO”) would be rejected for registration ...
On December 15, 2023, the Comptroller General of the Republic confirmed Supreme Decree No. 30/2023, which amends the Regulations of the Environmental Impact Assessment System (SEIA) in order to adapt said regulation to the requirements of the Framework Law on Climate Change and the Escazú Agreement. The approved modifications include, among others, the following: Modification of the minimum contents of Environmental Impact Declarations (DIA) and Environmental Impact Studies (EIA) ...
On 17 December 2023, the State Council of the People's Republic of China (the "PRC")[1]promulgated the Regulations on the Supervision and Administration of Non-Bank Payment Institutions (the "Regulations") ...
On 9 December 2023 the European Parliament and the Council managed to reach a provisional agreement regarding the AI Act, which is expected to be adopted early 2024. Within two years from adoption the AI Act will apply to all businesses introducing or using AI in the EU. Given this timeline, EU businesses should already be planning and adjusting their strategies to comply with the new AI regulation ...
Ownership of shares by companies usually results in tax being payable for dividends received or capital gains realised upon sale. However, in the UAE, the Corporate Tax law (Federal Decree No. 47 of 2022) ("CT Law") provides an exemption to Corporate Tax in a certain scenario referred to as the Participation Exemption. Article 23 of the CT Law states: "Participation Exemption" 1 ...
Employment Tribunals have a duty to make reasonable adjustments where a participant is disadvantaged, for example due to disability, to ensure fairness in proceedings. We share our recent experiences of how the Tribunals apply this duty in practice ...
