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 that a transition period will continue until 31 December 2020. Although this was provisionally agreed … 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
Late last month, the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) announced that agreement had been reached with the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) to implement the investor identification model for Stock Connect Northbound trading (NB Investor ID Model) on 17 September 2018. This will apply to Northbound trading under both the Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect and … Read more
There has been a significant rate of global growth of litigation in the financial services sector following the 2008 global financial crisis. While the existence of financial services litigation is truly a global phenomenon, it has become apparent that the law and procedures in relation to such disputes have evolved in different ways across the … Read more
The banking industry has undergone rapid change in recent years with the rise of virtual currency, fintech and digital innovation challenging the status quo. One of the key developments emerging in the last couple of years is the concept of Open Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) for use in the banking industry, or Open Banking. Read more
The FCA has published proposals to replace the Approved Persons Regime with the Senior Managers and Certification Regime (SMCR) currently in force for banks. Almost all financial services firms will be required to comply with the SMCR. There is a separate consultation paper to extend the current Senior Insurance Managers Regime applicable to insurers to … Read more
Herbert Smith Freehills recently held its annual disputes client conference exploring some key legal and compliance risks facing major corporates. Following opening remarks by Mark Shillito, head of dispute resolution for the UK and US, there were presentations on cyber security, Brexit, insurance, class actions, decision analysis, privilege and internal investigations. A summary of the … Read more
China's new Cyber-Security Law was recently issued, with the government downplaying suggestions that the new law would be used to drive foreign technology and products out of the Chinese market. The new Law provides a tighter definition of critical information infrastructure, making it less likely that the operations of foreign-invested enterprises in China will be caught … Read more
