On 31 August 2020, the Australian Law Reform Commission's Final Report on Corporate Criminal Responsibility was tabled in Parliament. The Final Report makes significant recommendations for reform of corporate criminal...more
10/12/2020
/ Anti-Corruption ,
Australia ,
Board of Directors ,
Bribery ,
Corporate Counsel ,
Corporate Crimes ,
Corporate Culture ,
Corporate Governance ,
Corporate Misconduct ,
Criminal Code ,
Criminal Liability ,
Deferred Prosecution Agreements ,
The Corporations Act ,
White Collar Crimes
In a significant victory for policyholders, on 15 September 2020, the English High Court delivered judgment in the UK Financial Conduct Authority's ("FCA") COVID-19 Business Interruption Test Case.
In a significant victory...more
The Situation: The requirement for a paper-based note for issuing securities under the German law has been an obstacle for the use of security tokens in Germany. With the release of a draft bill (the "Bill") permitting the...more
The Situation: The UK Financial Conduct Authority ("FCA") publicly censured a UK publicly listed IT services provider for false disclosure but avoided a fine on the basis that the company provided essential services during...more
7/24/2020
/ Actual or Constructive Knowledge ,
Compensation Schemes ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ,
Misleading Impressions ,
Operators of Essential Services ,
Popular ,
Public Disclosure ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Self-Reporting ,
UK
The Situation: On 6 July 2020, the United Kingdom announced its first set of independent sanctions, following its departure from the European Union. The new sanctions focus on individuals and entities identified by the UK...more
The United Kingdom and European Union look to give powers to regulators, rather than using direct legislation, to deal with existing contracts that prove unable to convert or be amended to include fallbacks ahead of IBOR...more
The UK Financial Conduct Authority ("FCA") has asked the English High Court to give an urgent declaratory judgment to address "significant uncertainty" on the scope of common business interruption insurance policy wordings in...more
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission ("CFTC") issues new civil monetary penalties guidance, and the U.S. Department of Justice ("DOJ") expands fraud division with new commodities fraud unit.
On May 20, 2020, the CFTC...more
The Situation: The increased use of financial sanctions (in particular "sectoral" or targeted sanctions) by the United States and European Union has the potential to cause short-term illiquidity, contagion, and market...more
The Situation: Authorities in China have cracked down on privately developed cryptocurrency, yet have heavily invested in and encouraged the development of other blockchain applications and services.
The Result: The rapidly...more
1/27/2020
/ Bitcoin ,
Blockchain ,
China ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Cybersecurity ,
Digital Currency ,
Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) ,
Government Securities ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
Popular ,
Public Finance ,
Public Financing
The Situation: The Trump administration announced a new round of sanctions on January 10, 2020, following escalating tensions between the United States and Iran.
The Result: The new sanctions complement existing sanctions...more
1/21/2020
/ Economic Sanctions ,
Executive Orders ,
Foreign Policy ,
Foreign Relations ,
Goods or Services ,
Iran ,
Iran Sanctions ,
Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
SDN List ,
Trump Administration
The Situation: Following the enactment earlier in 2019 of new French legislation to regulate activities related to digital assets (including cryptocurrency but excluding tokenized securities), final regulatory provisions were...more
1/2/2020
/ AML/CFT ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Assets ,
Financial Instruments ,
Financial Statements ,
France ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
Investment ,
New Legislation ,
Popular ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Token Sales ,
Virtual Currency
The Situation: The Financial Conduct Authority ("FCA") is extending the Senior Managers and Certification Regime ("SMCR") to FCA solo-regulated firms on 9 December 2019 and has also released a number of statements in relation...more
The International Swaps and Derivatives Association, Inc. ("ISDA") has announced the results of its "Final Parameters" Consultation (the "Consultation") on a number of important mechanical details and specifications for...more
The Situation: In response to events in Syria and in the face of strong Congressional pressure to act, President Trump introduced sanctions targeting Turkey.
The Result: Although the President indicated that a ceasefire...more
10/25/2019
/ Blocked Person ,
Economic Sanctions ,
EU ,
Executive Orders ,
Foreign Financial Institutions (FFI) ,
General Licenses ,
Human Rights ,
Member State ,
NATO ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Oil & Gas ,
Secondary Sanctions ,
Steel Industry ,
Syria ,
Tariffs ,
Trump Administration ,
Turkey
The Situation: The International Swaps and Derivatives Association ("ISDA") is in the midst of consulting the market on a wide variety of issues to develop "triggers" and "fallbacks" related to LIBOR cessation. Thus far,...more
The Situation: As the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") continues to bring enforcement actions to stop unregistered sales of digital tokens, blockchain companies are exploring ways to sell tokens to the public...more
While the crypto market is still in its early stages, the number of asset managers offering funds investing in cryptocurrencies and companies using blockchain or distributed ledger technology ("DLT") is constantly growing....more
7/19/2019
/ Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (AIFMD) ,
Anti-Money Laundering ,
Asset Management ,
Blockchain ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) ,
EU ,
Financial Markets ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
Securities Tokens ,
Smart Contracts ,
Token Sales ,
Tokenization
The Situation: Following its recent joint statement on opportunistic strategies in the credit derivatives market with the U.S Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"), the United Kingdom's Financial Conduct Authority...more
7/18/2019
/ CFTC ,
Credit Default Swaps ,
Derivatives ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ,
IOSCO ,
Market Participants ,
Policies and Procedures ,
Regulatory Authority ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Swap Dealers
Ambiguous, undefined terms create uncertainty and confusion, including whether owned or controlled subsidiaries of U.S. companies outside the United States are subject to this reporting requirement.
On June 21, the...more
Two new consultations seek market input on USD and other currencies and on inclusion of "non-representativeness" trigger -
The International Swaps and Derivatives Association, Inc. ("ISDA") launched two additional IBOR...more
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission ("CFTC") extends no-action and exemptive relief from the European Union to the United Kingdom.
On April 5, 2019, the CFTC's Divisions of Clearing and Risk, Market Oversight and Swap...more
Harriet Territt talks about the advantages of using blockchain in sectors and transactions where security, transparency, and traceability are important. She explains why blockchain is particularly valuable in trade finance,...more
3/26/2019
/ Analytics ,
Banking Sector ,
Blockchain ,
Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Forgery ,
Goods or Services ,
Popular ,
Retail Tracking ,
Smart Contracts ,
Suppliers ,
Transparency
Partner Harriet Territt explains that simply adding smart code to a blockchain rarely creates a valid smart contract, which requires that the structure surrounding the smart code include the elements of offer, acceptance,...more
The Situation: On January 9, 2019, the European Securities and Markets Authority ("ESMA") issued advice to the EU Commission, Council, and Parliament on initial coin offerings ("ICOs") and crypto assets.
The Result: ESMA...more
2/22/2019
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
Blockchain ,
Cryptoassets ,
Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) ,
EU ,
European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) ,
Financial Instruments ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
MiFID II ,
Regulatory Standards ,
Token Sales