In Tam Sze Leung & Ors v Commissioner of Police [2021] HKCFI 3118, a judicial review case, the Court of First Instance found the longstanding practice of the Hong Kong Police in effecting an informal freeze against bank accounts through the use of “letters of no consent” (LNCs) (the No Consent Regime) to be unconstitutional. Read more

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) has recently issued its Discussion Paper on Crypto-assets and Stablecoins, setting out the regulatory landscape globally and in other jurisdictions, as well as the current landscape in Hong Kong, and how it believes the Hong Kong regulatory framework should be expanded to cover payment-related stablecoins. Read more

Welcome to the Winter 2021 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. Read more

Since 10 January 2021, cryptoasset exchange providers and custodian wallet providers with operations in the UK have been required to register with, and be supervised for, anti-money laundering and counter terrorist financing (AML/CTF) purposes by the FCA. For crypto businesses which do not carry on any investment, payment services, e-money or other UK regulated business, this relatively limited regime is the main tool currently available to UK financial services regulators in this emerging sector. 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 December 2021 and January 2022. Read more

We are delighted to announce the programme for Herbert Smith Freehills' Eighth Annual Corporate Crime and Investigations Conference on 30 November 2021. Read more

The Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) has recently announced a disciplinary action against a licensed corporation and its manager-in-charge (MIC) for internal control failures relating to its placing activities and recording of client order instructions. 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 November 2021. Read more