The outcome of the June 2016 UK referendum on EU membership ushered in a period of increasing political turmoil in the UK. When I wrote an introduction to the first edition of this legal guide my colleagues and I had a clear view that leaving the EU would take far longer and be far more complex than most other commentators were saying, but I did not anticipate then that over three years later we would have so little clarity on the UK and EU’s long term relationship with each other. Nor that polarisation of views on all sides would have increased still further, leading to political deadlock. This updated Brexit Legal Guide addresses the legal position if the UK leaves the EU with or without a deal and picks out the key pieces of legislation that will soon be in force if the UK leaves the EU without a deal. I hope you will find it useful. Read more
Following the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and the Asia/Pacific Group on Money Laundering’s inspection of Hong Kong in October and November 2018, their much anticipated Mutual Evaluation Report (Report) on Hong Kong was published on 4 September 2019. Our previous bulletin on 25 June 2019 gave early insights into the expected findings. Read more
The Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) has recently issued a circular on the outcome of its survey and inspection of selected fund managers regarding their liquidity risk management practices. The SFC noted inadequacies and deficiencies in a number of areas. These are set out in the appendix to the circular, together with observations and examples … Read more
Last Friday, the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) issued a circular to announce the launch of a key risk indicator (KRI) platform to collect and analyse KRI data from selected licensed corporations (LCs). The platform is aimed at facilitating the SFC’s supervision of global firms which are exposed to the changing dynamics of global markets. … Read more
In this blog post, we round-up forthcoming developments in the UK and at EU and International levels in financial services regulation which are expected for September 2019. Read more
Indonesia’s Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) has charged Emirsyah Satar, the former head of state airline, Garuda, with money laundering and ordered his detention for 20 days. Emir Satar has been caught up in the KPK’s two year investigation, a spin-off of the SFO’s major investigation into Rolls-Royce. The SFO and Singapore’s Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau … Read more
On 6 August 2019 the UK Serious Fraud Office (“SFO“) published its Corporate Co-operation Guidance which forms part of the SFO’s internal Operational Handbook. The Guidance is designed to assist SFO staff with assessing the co-operation of organisations when considering charging decisions and the possibility of Deferred Prosecution Agreements (“DPAs“). Read more
On August 5, 2019, President Trump issued a new Executive Order (“EO“), blocking all property and interests in property of the Government of Venezuela (defined to include the Central Bank of Venezuela and Petróleos de Venezuela (“PdVSA“)) in the US or in the possession of US persons. The EO also empowers the Secretary of Treasury, … Read more
