Authors: Kyle Wombolt, Jeremy Birch, Antony Crockett and Emily Purvis. A recent enforcement action by the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) against US company e.l.f Cosmetics Inc (ELF) highlights the importance of supply chain due… Read more

On 21 February 2019, the FCA announced its first decision under its competition enforcement powers, finding three asset management firms have breached competition law. This decision is an important assertion of the FCA's intention to use its competition powers – previous matters which… Read more

Whistleblower reform is underway in Australia after the Treasury Laws Amendment (Enhancing Whistleblower Protections) Bill 2017 (Bill) was passed on 19 February 2019. The new law is likely to commence on 1 July 2019, assuming Royal Assent is given by… Read more

Following consultation in the second half of 2018, the European Banking Authority ("EBA") published its Final Report on Draft Guidelines on Outsourcing Arrangements (the "Guidelines") on 25 February 2019. Most provisions of the Guidelines will enter into force on 30… Read more

On 12 February 2019, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) announced in a briefing to the Legislative Council Panel on Financial Affairs that the Treasury Markets Association (TMA) will hold a long-awaited consultation this quarter on alternative reference rates. The… Read more

Authors: Kyle Wombolt and Anita Phillips Kyle Wombolt, global head of corporate crime and investigations, and Anita Phillips, professional support consultant, have updated their guide to corporate investigations in China. This forms part of GIR’s acclaimed text, The Practitioner’s Guide to… Read more

On 1 February 2019, the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) announced significant changes to its licensing forms and processes (Licensing Reforms). Included in these changes was the long-awaited arrival in Hong Kong of measures intended to stop the “rolling” of… Read more

The Final Report of the Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry (Hayne Report) was released to the public on 4 February 2019. The Federal Government has agreed to take action on all 76 recommendations… Read more

In a recent decision, the High Court has ordered that documents provided to Tesco plc ("Tesco") by the SFO for the purpose of negotiating a deferred prosecution agreement ("DPA") must be disclosed by Tesco in the separate civil action relating… Read more

Authors: Susannah Cogman, Partner, London; Daniel Hudson, Partner, London; Jonathan Cross, Counsel, New York; Geng Li, Associate, New York; and Christopher Milazzo, Associate, New York. On January 28, 2019, the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control… Read more

In this bulletin we cover the following key developments in the payments and fintech space: Payment Services Bill: On 14 January 2019, the Payment Services Bill (Bill) was passed by the Singapore Parliament. When it comes into force, the Payment… Read more

Last month, the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) published a circular, a report and a self-assessment checklist to provide guidance on the standards expected of licensed corporations (LCs) regarding internal controls for the protection of client assets and supervision of… Read more

The UK FCA and PRA propose to implement the TPR if the UK leaves the European Union on 29 March 2019 without an implementation (or transitional) period, to ensure that EEA firms currently operating under an incoming passport (either from… Read more

It is anticipated that in around mid-2019, the Insurance Authority (IA) will take over the regulation of insurance intermediaries from the three self-regulatory organisations (SROs). In preparation for the commencement of the new regime, the IA has launched several public consultations… Read more

Welcome to the December 2018 edition of our corporate crime update - our round up of developments in relation to corruption, money laundering, fraud, sanctions and related matters. This month, we would like to wish all of our regular readers a… Read more

The European Commission has announced that it has started implementing its Brexit “no deal” Contingency Action Plan given the continuing uncertainty regarding ratification of the Withdrawal Agreement in the UK. This follows the Commission's communication of 13 November 2018 which… Read more

On 19 December 2018, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) announced that it will introduce supervisory measures (Supervisory Measures) focused specifically on measuring authorised institutions’ (AI) progress in implementing reforms to their culture. The Supervisory Measures include requiring AIs to… Read more

As investment services go digital, Hong Kong regulators have found it necessary to issue tailored guidance to protect investors. From 6 April and 23 August 2019 respectively, new guidelines from the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) and the Hong Kong… Read more

On 6 December 2018, the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) published the conclusions to its consultation on proposed amendments to the Code on Unit Trusts and Mutual Funds (UT Code). The proposed amendments are aimed at updating the regulatory regime… Read more

Federal Decree No. 24 of 2018 has amended certain provisions of Federal Law No. 3 of 1987 (the "Penal Code") to strengthen anti-corruption legislation in the UAE and bring it in line with other jurisdictions by including foreign public officials… Read more

The People's Republic of China recently enacted a new law that will impact foreign authorities, corporations and individuals involved in overseas criminal enforcement actions. The Law on International Judicial Assistance in Criminal Matters allows Chinese authorities to block requests for… Read more

The Financial Stability Board (FSB) released on 23 November 2018 its recommendations on the types of data regulators should be collecting from financial institutions (FIs) regarding compensation tools, as part of its workplan to address misconduct risk in FIs. This… Read more

Welcome to the autumn 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… Read more

On financial services, the final political declaration contains essentially the same three points as in last week's outline political declaration (the implications of which were discussed in our blog post of 15 November, available here), although there is some limited… Read more

Last Friday, the SFC announced (via a circular) that it had commenced a thematic review of selected licensed corporations (LCs) to assess their risk governance and oversight frameworks as well as risk management practices. ... Read more

Yesterday's announcements on the terms agreed for the UK's withdrawal from the EU say relatively little about the future framework for cross-border trade in goods or services.  More detail is expected on this next week. The draft withdrawal agreement provides… Read more

The Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal (CFA) has recently allowed the Securities and Futures Commission’s (SFC) appeal against the Market Misconduct Tribunal’s (MMT) findings that two former executives of a listed company (ATML), Mr Charles Yiu Hoi Ying and… Read more

Following President Trump’s decision on May 8, 2018 to withdraw the United States from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (“JCPOA”), the US government announced that it would re-impose pre-JCPOA nuclear-related Iran sanctions (both primary and secondary) that were lifted… Read more

Yesterday, the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) published a statement (Statement), together with a press release, setting out its new regulatory framework for virtual assets (also known as cryptocurrencies, crypto-assets and digital tokens).  ... Read more

In the case of R (On The Application Of KBR Inc) v The Director of the Serious Fraud Office [2018] EWHC 2368 (Admin) ("KBR"), the High Court dismissed a judicial review brought by the applicant, finding that the SFO was able to compel… Read more