The Second Circuit recently revived a securities class action against the crypto exchange Binance Holdings Ltd., holding that plaintiffs plausibly alleged their transactions on the exchange were "domestic," as required by the...more
On March 21, 2022, the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") voted 3–1 to propose amendments to Regulations S-K and S-X that would require registrants to provide certain climate-related information in their registration...more
3/24/2022
/ Annual Reports ,
Climate Change ,
Corporate Governance ,
Corporate Social Responsibility ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Financial Statements ,
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ,
Proposed Regulation ,
Public Comment ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Regulation S-K ,
Regulation S-X ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Regulation
ESG considerations will continue to play an ever-increasing role in financial markets in 2022. ESG-related transactions will continue to present significant opportunities for financial institutions as they respond to and...more
The SEC's Proposal -
On January 26, 2022, the SEC released a rulemaking proposal that, among other things, would expand the definition of "exchange" under Rule 3b-16 of the Exchange Act. ...more
The digital asset industry has now met the regulatory state. Those interested in building digital asset businesses that operate in the United States thus need to be aware of a vital tool for resisting regulatory overreach by...more
12/13/2021
/ Bitcoin ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Assets ,
Financial Instruments ,
Financial Markets ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Financial Transactions ,
Investment Products ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Regulatory Standards ,
Virtual Currency
On 4 November 2021, the Federal Court of Australia made orders by consent which require the Commonwealth Bank of Australia ("CBA") to permit the plaintiff shareholders to inspect and make copies of books and records that...more
On October 18, 2021, New York Attorney General Letitia James directed two virtual currency lending platforms to immediately cease their unregistered and allegedly unlawful activities in New York and sent letters to three...more
10/29/2021
/ Cryptocurrency ,
Decentralized Finance (DeFi) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Financial Markets ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Lenders ,
New York ,
Regulatory Violations ,
Securities Transactions ,
Stablecoins ,
State Attorneys General ,
Virtual Currency
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's ("FERC") Office of Electric Reliability and Enforcement and the North American Electric Reliability Corporation ("NERC") staff presented a series of findings and preliminary...more
9/30/2021
/ Critical Infrastructure Sectors ,
Electric Generation Suppliers ,
Electricity ,
Energy Reform ,
FERC ,
MISO ,
Natural Disasters ,
Natural Gas ,
NERC ,
Power Grid ,
Power Infrastructure ,
Power Outages ,
Regulatory Standards ,
Severe Weather ,
Supply Chain
The Underlying Dispute The dispute giving rise to the Second Circuit's decision began with a trademark infringement suit filed by Nike in 2013 against several hundred Chinese retailers for selling counterfeit Nike products on...more
9/20/2021
/ Asset Freeze ,
China ,
Contempt ,
Counterfeit Goods Regulation ,
Default Judgment ,
Extraterritoriality Rules ,
Financial Transactions ,
Foreign Banks ,
Nike ,
Restraining Orders ,
Retail Market ,
Sanctions ,
Separate Entity Rule ,
Trademark Infringement
On August 24, 2021, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission ("FERC") approved new cold weather electric reliability standards proposed by the North American Electric Reliability Corporation ("NERC"). The standards will apply...more
9/2/2021
/ Critical Infrastructure Sectors ,
Electric Generation Suppliers ,
Electricity ,
Energy Reform ,
FERC ,
Natural Disasters ,
NERC ,
Power Grid ,
Power Infrastructure ,
Regulatory Standards ,
Severe Weather ,
Supply Chain
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit recently issued a decision in In re Vitamin C Antitrust Litigation, reversing a $148 million price-fixing judgment against two Chinese exporters of vitamin C, remanding the...more
8/25/2021
/ Anti-Competitive ,
Antitrust Litigation ,
Antitrust Violations ,
Application of Foreign Laws ,
China ,
Comity ,
Conflicts of Laws ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Exports ,
Foreign State Compulsion Doctrine ,
Multinationals ,
Price-Fixing ,
Sherman Act
On July 15, 2021, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit held in Homaidan v. Sallie Mae, Inc., et al. that the private student loans at issue were not subject to the discharge exemption in...more
The Situation: A number of shareholder derivative lawsuits in federal court have been filed seeking to hold directors and officers of major companies accountable for alleged failures to uphold their companies' stated...more
7/20/2021
/ Board of Directors ,
Corporate Governance ,
Derivative Suit ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Diversity and Inclusion Standards (D&I) ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Forum Selection ,
Motion to Dismiss ,
Securities Regulation ,
Securities Violations ,
Shareholder Litigation ,
Shareholders
On July 15, 2021, the Second Circuit reinforced the availability of § 1782 discovery to most investor-state arbitrations. In The Application of the Fund for Protection of Investor Rights, the court held that an investment...more
7/19/2021
/ Arbitration ,
Banks ,
Bilateral Investment Treaties ,
Commercial Bankruptcy ,
Discovery ,
Foreign Tribunals ,
Investment ,
Investors ,
Lithuania ,
Russia ,
UNCITRAL
On June 30, 2021, the New York Department of Financial Services ("NYDFS") identified key cybersecurity measures to prevent and prepare for ransomware attacks. ...more
7/8/2021
/ Cyber Attacks ,
Cyber Crimes ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Breach ,
Data Protection ,
Multi-Factor Authentication ,
New Guidance ,
NYDFS ,
Phishing Scams ,
Ransomware ,
Risk Mitigation
On June 3, 2021, the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit issued a decision in the OCC's appeal of the SDNY decision in Lacewell v. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency in which the NYDFS had successfully challenged...more
More than a year ago the world fell victim to a global pandemic that would change life in ways that could never have been predicted. In the early stages of the pandemic, we published a White Paper directed at financial...more
The Situation: The New York State Department of Financial Services ("DFS") and the European Banking Authority ("EBA") have published guidance relating to Environmental, Social, and Corporate Governance ("ESG")...more
Recent measures from U.S. lawmakers and Nasdaq to impose additional requirements on U.S.-listed China-based companies could have wider implications.
On May 20, 2020, the U.S. Senate unanimously passed the Holding Foreign...more
7/13/2020
/ China ,
China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) ,
Corporate Governance ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Foreign Governments ,
Listing Standards ,
Nasdaq ,
NYSE ,
PCAOB ,
Popular ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Regulation