On 8 June 2021, the European Commission published an opinion on Article 2(2) of Council Regulation (EU) No 269/2014 of 17 March 2014 (the "Regulation"). The Regulation imposes an asset freeze on certain Russian individuals and entities in response to the situation in Ukraine. Read more

The Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau (FSTB) has recently published the conclusions to its consultation on proposals to enhance anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing (AML/CFT) regulation in Hong Kong, via amendments to the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorist Financing Ordinance (AMLO). Read more

On 16 December 2019, the Directive (EU) 2019/1937 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2019 on the protection of persons who report breaches of Union law (the “Whistleblower Directive”) came into force. Read more

On 26 April 2021, the prosecution by the Serious Fraud Office (the "SFO") of fraud charges against two former directors of Serco Geografix Limited ("Serco") collapsed. The SFO offered no evidence against the defendants, and the presiding judge directed the jury to return verdicts of not guilty. This happened after it became apparent that the SFO had failed to disclose to the defendants certain relevant materials, rendering it unsafe for the prosecution to proceed. Read more

The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited (SEHK) has recently published consultation conclusions on proposed enhancements to the listing rules (LRs) relating to disciplinary powers and sanctions. The revised LRs will come into effect on 3 July 2021. Read more

Welcome to the May 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

On Tuesday 8 June, the Bank of England launched its Climate Biennial Exploratory Scenario (BES), a stress-testing exercise on the financial risks from climate change. Read more

The Hong Kong Stock Exchange is to increase the profit requirement for companies seeking to list on the Main Board of the Stock Exchange by 60%. This is a smaller increase than was initially proposed in the consultation paper. This will mean that a listing applicant relying on the profit test to satisfy its eligibility for listing will need to have profits in its most recent financial year of not less than HK$35 million (increased from HK$20 million currently) and in the two preceding years, in aggregate, profits of not less than HK$45 million (increased from HK$30 million currently). These changes, as set out in the consultation conclusions, will become effective on 1 January 2022. Read more