On February 13, 2013, the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada (the “Agency”) issued a new guidance (the “Guidance”) to clarify the interpretation that must be given to the Code of Conduct for the Credit and Debit Card Industry in Canada (the “Code”) with regard to three issues within the Canadian payment card industry (credit or debit cards) that, according to the Agency, are not in line with some of the key principles set out in the Code ...
The quality of corporate governance practices increasingly represents a key factor to maintaining the trust of depositors, policyholders and most stakeholders who are active on capital markets. Considering the unique features of financial institutions and the risks arising from their responsibilities, some aspects of corporate governance are particularly important for these institutions, including banks, insurers, trust companies, loan companies and cooperative credit associations ...
Pursuant to new rules and interpretations issued by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (the “CFTC”) and the Securities Exchange Commission under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act1(together with related rules, regulations and interpretations, the “Dodd-Frank Act”), a “swap” has been interpreted to include any guarantee of a swap ...
Savings and Credit Entities (SCEs) are regulated financial institutions of private capital authorised to develop lending activities. The operation of SCEs is governed by the Law of Cooperative Banks and Savings and Credit Entities, which came into force on July 1 2001, amended in January 1 2009 to its current regime ...
On January 23, 2013, the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC)1 issued a notice for comment on its proposed guidance, Social Media: Consumer Compliance Risk Management Guidance2 (the “Guidance”) ...
The CorporateGovernance Code of the Portuguese Corporate Governance Institute (Instituto Português de Corporate Governance – “IPCG”) waspublished on 30 January 2013. For the first time, commercial companies haveaccess to a corporate governance best practice code prepared by civil societywhich is an alternative to the existing corporate governance code of the SecuritiesMarket Commission (CMVM) ...
The decision Mrs X v. Rothschild, rendered on 26 September 2012 by the French Cour de cassation1. called into question the practice of asymmetrical jurisdiction clauses, frequently included in international financial contracts ...
On January 6, 2013, the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision announced that it was relaxing the liquidity rules that will be applied to banks beginning in 2015. The Group of Central Bank Governors and Heads of Supervision (“GHOS”), the oversight body of the Basel Committee, then unanimously adopted the last changes made by the Basel Committee to the liquidity coverage ratio (“LCR”), which were presented in the version published in December 2010 ...
On January 17, 2013, the Treasury Department ("Treasury") and the Internal Revenue Service ("IRS") issued final regulations with respect to the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act ("FATCA"). The legislation applies to payments to foreign financial institutions ("FFIs") and nonfinancial foreign entities ("NFFEs"). In general, FATCA requires certain persons making payments to FFIs and NFFEs to withhold 30 percent of any payment (a "Withholdable Payment") consisting of either (1) U.S ...
In 2007, companies completed more than 12,000 M&A deals globally, with values totaling over $3.5 trillion.1 Butthose volume and dollar records have since been buried under years of bad news. Dykema’s 2012 Mergers &Acquisitions Outlook Survey indicates that the mortgage meltdown, the recession, the European debt crisis, theaftereffects of the presidential election and now the “fiscal cliff” have pushed expectations for 2013 to a near recordlow ...
The Finance Bill 2013 makes changes to the rules applying entrepreneurs' relief (ER) to the disposal by an employee or officer of a company, on or after 6 April 2013, of shares meeting the requirements of the enterprise management incentive (EMI) scheme. Details ER enables shareholders of companies to sell their shares at a capital gains tax rate of only 10% for lifetime gains of up to £10m ...
Earlier this year, I wrote an article entitled “Why you should choose the BVI for your next Fund.” Since then new regulations ushering in an “Approved Managers” regime have been published and as of December 10, 2012 are now in force. The effect of these new regulations is to make the BVI an attractive option for setting up as an investment manager ...
It is estimated that there are more than 450,000 active companies incorporated in the British Virgin Islands (BVI) and that more than half of those companies are used in China, Hong Kong and other parts of Asia. While, traditionally, many of these companies have been used as asset holding vehicles, the robust Chinese economy has led to the increased use of BVI companies in China and Hong Kong as hedge funds and other types of investment vehicles. This is no surprise ...
With regard to our In Fact and In Law Express newsletter of July 2012, entitled ‘‘AMF Investigations: The duty to answer an investigator and his jurisdiction to rule on objections’’, please be informed that, on December 20, 2012, the Supreme Court dismissed Fournier’s application for leave1 to appeal a Court of Appeal decision2, which convicted Fournier of an offence under section 195(4) SA because of his refusal to testify whereas lower courts acquitted him ...
End users will be relieved to know that compliance dates for business conduct and documentation rules related to the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (“Dodd-Frank”), which had been driving the request by swap dealers and major swap participants for end users to enter into the ISDA August 2012 DF Protocol or otherwise amend their swap documents by the end of the year, have now been delayed until May 1, 2013 ...
On November 20 and 27, 2012, the International Swaps and Derivatives Association, Inc. (“ISDA”) filed two letters with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) requesting an extension of compliance dates for certain new business conduct, portfolio reconciliation and swap trading relationship documentation requirements issued by the CFTC pursuant to the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (“Dodd-Frank”) ...
In a recent decision1, the Superior Court ruled in favour of GE, Commercial Distribution Finance Canada ("GE") in a dispute against the national Bank of Canada ("NBC"). Both institutions had a common client, New World Zanotti Transblock Inc. ("Zanotti"), which had granted each of them a hypothec specifically charging its receivables. NBC had agreed to grant GE's hypothec a prior rant to its own ...
Two recent decisions of the Court of Appeal Remind us of the duty on Investment Advisors and Financial Securities Advisors to know their client and the correlative duty of the information. In both cases, the Court of Appeal held that the Advisor has breached his duty to know his client, assess the Client's needs, and inform and advise the Client. Both cases also dealt with the Client's possible contributory negligence ...
On October 24, 2012, the Harper government announced its intentions to enact new regulations to protect consumers who use prepaid credit cards in order to broaden their options regarding the forms of payment that best suit their needs. Such prepaid payment products allow consumers to make purchases or cash withdrawals through a payment network like American Express, MasterCard or Visa, with funds that have been paid in advance to a financial institution ...
North Carolina’s banking laws have been comprehensively updated for the first time in 80 years and provide the state with one of one of the most modern banking systems in the country. Effective October 1, 2012, the bipartisan legislation is a product of compromise and joint effort on the part of legislators, banks and consumer advocates ...
In a time when foreclosures are all too common, many secured lenders end up taking title to the real properties securing their loans. One of the questions, then, is should a lender obtain an owner’s title insurance policy or is the loan title insurance policy sufficient?As we all know, title insurance reduces the risk of the insured owner or lender by insuring one or both against loss or damage arising out of defects to or liens on title ...
Is your community bank or holding company still a public company? Are you making periodic filings — 10-K's, 10-Q's, 8-K's, Proxy Statements — to the SEC or your primary federal bank regulator? Are you still subject to Sarbannes-Oxley (SOX)? Why? A large number of community bank holding companies have filed to deregister from reporting to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ...
A federal court recently held that two investment funds are not jointly and severally liable for a bankrupt portfolio company’s withdrawal liability to a multiemployer pension plan disagreeing with a 2007 opinion by the Appeals Board of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (the “PBGC”). The Massachusetts U.S. District Court ruled there was no liability because the investment funds are not “trades or businesses” for purposes of ERISA’s joint and several liability rules ...
If you a trader, financial analyst or other financial technocrat and are thinking of setting up a fund, then the British Virgins Islands is probably your best bet. In today’s financial environment, investor capital for a start up fund can be hard to come by ...
On May 14, 2012, the Honourable Normand Gosselin, J.S.C., ruled on an amended motion seeking the sanction of a plan of arrangement concerning a debtor, Norgate Metal Inc. ("Norgate").1 The judgment is special in that Norgate asked the court to annul some of the votes that had been cast against the plan of arrangement. Norgate submitted that the only reason why the creditors who cast those votes had voted against the plan was that they wished to eliminate a competitor from their industry ...
