In a recent decision, the Court of Appeal has confirmed that the terms of an English law facility agreement in respect of Tier 2 Capital, allowed the borrower to withhold payment of interest instalments where there was a risk of secondary sanctions being imposed on the borrower under US law. Read more
Herbert Smith Freehills LLP's Seventh Annual Corporate Crime & Investigations (“CC&I”) Conference is being held as a Global Conference Series of webinars over the upcoming months. The first webinar took place on 18 June 2020 and covered the topic of “CC&I in the time of Covid-19”. Read more
Covid-19 restrictions are being slowly eased, but the impact of the pandemic and related lockdown measures on financial crime risk and on related compliance measures continues to be a high priority for business. In our April briefing, we analysed the impact of the restrictions on the UK criminal justice system – in particular, the practical issues facing law enforcement agencies (LEAs), the courts and the prison service. Read more
Between November 2019 and January 2020 the HSF private wealth and charities team conducted a survey of trust companies. In this briefing, we discuss and contextualise the results of the AML section of our survey, examining the specific aspects of AML compliance trust companies said that they are struggling with, and what they are doing to address them. 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 June 2020. Read more
As consumers use cash to make payments less frequently, and fintech firms offer new forms of money and new ways to make payments, central banks globally are considering how they should respond and whether they too should innovate to meet new payment needs in an increasingly digital economy. Read more
On May 14, 2020, the US Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”), the US Department of State, and US Coast Guard issued a Sanctions Advisory for the Maritime Industry, Energy and Metal Sectors, and Related Communities (the "Advisory"). The Advisory focuses on Iran, North Korea, and Syria, and offers information about, and tools to combat, emerging trends related to illicit shipping and sanctions evasion practices. Read more
Welcome to the Spring 2020 edition of our corporate crime update - our round up of developments in relation to corruption, money laundering, fraud, sanctions and related matters. Read more
On 8 May 2020, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) commenced a three-month industry consultation on a proposed framework for a mandatory reference checking scheme (MRC Scheme) to address the phenomenon of “rolling bad apples” moving between financial institutions without disclosing previous misconduct to their new employer. Read more
