Herbert Smith Freehills – FSR notes | The latest from Herbert Smith Freehills' FSR team

10 July, 2018

Corporate Crime update – June 2018

Welcome to the June 2018 edition of our corporate crime update – our round up of developments in relation to corruption, money laundering, fraud, sanctions and related matters. For the full update on each jurisdiction, please click on the name of the jurisdiction below. Below we provide a brief overview of what is covered in each update. Please note, our next edition will be published in August.

Herbert Smith Freehills would like to congratulate Senior Associate, Elizabeth Head of our Corporate Crime & Investigations team in London, for being named by Global Investigations Review as one of 100 Women in Investigations for 2018. Continue reading →

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Filed under Announcements, Asia, Bribery and Corruption, China, Corporate Crime, Dubai, EU, Europe, Germany, Herbert Smith Freehills, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Investigations, Korea, Middle East, Sanctions and Money Laundering, Sector Updates by Herbert Smith Freehills, Thailand, UK Government, US, Vietnam

Tagged as 5MLD, AML, Bribery, Bribery Act 2010, Corporate Crime, CTF, DPA, modern slavery, OECD, Sanctions, SFO

6 July, 2018

HM Treasury and Financial Regulators’ updates on Brexit preparation

Almost a year after it was introduced, a key piece of UK domestic Brexit legislation has now been passed. The European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 (EUWA), which aims to provide a functioning statute book on the day the UK leaves the EU, completed its difficult passage through the UK Parliament and passed into law on 26 June 2018. Please refer to our briefing, “The UK’s new legal order post-Brexit: A new class of UK law” for a summary of the EUWA.

Following the passing of the EUWA, HM Treasury, the Bank of England, FCA and the Payment Services Regulator (PSR) have each published statements on their approaches to their role in preparing for Brexit, a summary of which is set out here.

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Filed under UK

Tagged as Bank of England, Brexit, EU withdrawal, FCA, HM Treasury, Payment services regulator, PRA, UK Government

28 June, 2018

Hong Kong open-ended fund company regime expected to commence on 30 July 2018

On 18 May 2018, the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) published the conclusions to its consultation on the detailed legal and regulatory requirements applicable to the upcoming open-ended fund company (OFC) regime.

The detailed requirements are set out in the Securities and Futures (Open-ended Fund Companies) Rules (OFC Rules) and the Code on Open-ended Fund Companies (OFC Code), which supplement the basic OFC framework to be introduced via amendments to the Securities and Futures Ordinance.

To read our full briefing on the regime, please click here.

William Hallatt

Partner, Head of Financial Services Regulatory, Hong Kong
Email | Profile
+852 2101 4036

Hannah Cassidy

Partner, Hong Kong
Email | Profile
+852 2101 4133

Jackie Lam

Associate, Hong Kong
Email
+852 2101 4194

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Filed under Announcements, Herbert Smith Freehills, Hong Kong, Non-UK regulation, Regulatory Reform, Sector Updates by Herbert Smith Freehills

Tagged as Consultation, framework, Futures, Hong Kong, OFC Code, OFC rules, Open-ended fund companies, securities, tax exemption

27 June, 2018

Interpretation of MiFID I: ECJ preliminary ruling confirms information given to supervisory authorities by authorised firms can lose its confidential status after 5 years

Judgment by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in the case of Bundesanstalt für Finanzdienstleistungsaufsicht v Baumeister (Case C-15/16) (19 June 2018) has confirmed that not all information held in the file of a financial supervision authority (competent authority (CA)) is necessarily confidential, and that information which might constitute business secrets can lose its secrecy when it is at least five years old. Continue reading →

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Filed under Announcements, EU, Sector Updates by Herbert Smith Freehills, UK Regulations

Tagged as business secrets, confidential information, ECJ, MiFID I, national competent authorities, Ponzi

21 June, 2018

PROPOSED AMENDMENTS TO THE EU BLOCKING STATUTE

In May, we published an e-bulletin discussing President Trump’s announcement that the United States would withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal (the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action – “JCPOA“), and that all pre-JCPOA nuclear-related sanctions on Iran (including secondary sanctions) would be re-imposed.

The European Union, along with leaders of the other countries party to the JCPOA (Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Russia and China) have all reiterated their commitment to the JCPOA. Continue reading →

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Filed under Announcements, Bribery and Corruption, Corporate Crime, Europe, Herbert Smith Freehills, Investigations, Sanctions and Money Laundering, Sector Updates by Herbert Smith Freehills, UK

Tagged as Blocking Statute, delegated act, EU, Iran, JCPOA, Sanctions, Trump

11 June, 2018

FCA consults on proposals to regulate claims management firms

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has issued a joint consultation paper – Claims management: how we propose to regulate claims management companies (CP18/15) (the Consultation) with the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) setting out draft proposals on how the FCA intends to authorise and regulate claims management companies (CMCs).

This Consultation will be of interest to:

CMC’s operating in England, Scotland and Wales.
Organisations that are not CMCs but have the potential to be affected by them

Continue reading →

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Filed under Announcements, FCA, Herbert Smith Freehills, Regulatory Reform, Sector Updates by Herbert Smith Freehills, UK

Tagged as claims management, CMCs, Consultation, Enforcement Guide, FCA, FOS, Handbook, permissions, Regulation

6 June, 2018

Corporate Crime update – May 2018

Welcome to the May 2018 edition of our corporate crime update – our round up of developments in relation to corruption, money laundering, fraud, sanctions and related matters. Our update now covers a number of jurisdictions. For the full update on each jurisdiction, please click on the name of the jurisdiction below.

We are proud to announce that the Corporate Crime and Investigations practice at Herbert Smith Freehills has been awarded Investigation Firm of the Year at the Who’s Who Legal Awards 2018. Continue reading →

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Filed under Bribery and Corruption, Corporate Crime, Herbert Smith Freehills, Investigations, Sanctions and Money Laundering, Sector Updates by Herbert Smith Freehills

Tagged as Bribery, Corruption, cyber, DOJ, DPAs, FATF, FCA, Fraud, Money Laundering, Sanctions, SFO, tax evasion, UK, US

6 June, 2018

EU Parliament-commissioned report – Virtual currencies and terrorist financing

The EU Parliament’s internal Think Tank has published a study commissioned by Parliament’s special Committee on Terrorism (TERR) into virtual currencies (VCs) and terrorist financing (TF). Via TERR, the report may contribute to Parliament’s consideration of the treatment of VCs, particularly with regard to safeguards to prevent/detect the use of VCs in TF. Continue reading →

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Filed under Announcements, Europe, Herbert Smith Freehills, Sector Updates by Herbert Smith Freehills

Tagged as AML, CTF, EU Parliament, Europol, TERR, Terrorism, virtual currency

5 June, 2018

CHINA’S NEW LIBERALISATION POLICIES FOR THE FINANCIAL SECTOR

China is advancing its policies to open up its markets and attract more foreign investment. This year, the financial sector is one of the focus areas for liberalisation. On 11 April 2018, Yi Gang, the governor of People’s Bank of China announced a detailed timetable (Timetable) for certain liberalisation policies in respect of the financial sector. In this e-bulletin, we summarise the key aspects of the Timetable and some of the other related regulations which have been issued recently. Please click here to read our full briefing.

Karen Ip

Partner, Beijing
Email | Profile
+86 10 6535 5135

Nanda Lau

Partner, Shanghai
Email | Profile
+86 21 2322 2117

Tianchan Li

Associate, Shanghai
Email
+86 21 2322 2155