ICC Publishes Paper on Internet Governance The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), a private sector body based in California, currently operates the allocation of domain names and Internet Protocol addresses on a worldwide basis. At the World Summit on the Information Society in Geneva in December 2003, the issue of transferring ICANN’s role to the United Nations was raised by a number of developing countries ...
Despite rumours from Westminster that the Pensions Bill was to be dropped to make room for the anti-fox hunting Bill, it looks certain that the Pensions Bill will finally receive Royal Assent in November. In its final form, the Bill now extends to over 350 pages. Those looking for simplification will be disappointed to say the least ...
The Securities and Futures Commission ("SFC") have just released their consultation paper ("Paper") on the review of the disclosure of interests regime under Part XV of the Securities and Futures Ordinance (Cap. 571) ("Part XV"). The Paper contains the SFC's proposals for changes to the law on disclosure of interests in shares. Most of the provisions of the Securities and Futures Ordinance was gazetted on 28 March 2002 and came into effect (including Part XV) on 1 April 2003 ...
The year 2004 saw increased M&A activity in the Ukrainian banking sector. Some of the notable acquisitions include equity transfers in Kredit Bank (to PKO Bank Polski S.A.), Transbank (to Bank TuranAlem of Kazakhstan),Bank Leader (to Renaissance Capital of Russia), and, of course, the benchmark deal of the year — acquisitionby Vilniaus Bankas, a Lithuanian subsidiary of the powerful SEB Group of Sweden, of the Joint Stock Bank Agio ...
Judgment of the Court of First Instance in Laurent Piau v. European Commission (Case T-194/02) of 26 January 2005 In its judgment of 26 January 2005 in case Laurent Piau v. European Commission, the Court of First Instance (hereinafter the “CFI”) ruled on compliance of the regulation issued by the Fédération Internationale de Football Associations (hereinafter the “FIFA”) concerning the occupation of football players’ agents with the provisions of the EC Treaty on competition ...
This English law decision not only serves as a timely reminder of a bank’s duty of confidentiality to its clients but is potentially worrying as the case confirms loss of opportunity to earn future profits as a recoverable head of damage following breach of confidence. Jackson v Royal Bank of Scotland (2005) UKHL3, [2005] A ER(d)280 Facts: Jackson (trading under the name Sampson Lancastrian (Sampson)) had entered into a contract to supply dog chews to another UK entity, Economy Bag ...
Concord Trust v Law Debenture (http://www.lawdeb.com/). Law Debenture House of Lords considered the obligations and liabilities of bond issue trustees in relation to notices of acceleration ...
On 30 June 2005, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (“HKMA”) finalised the self-assessment framework on AML compliance. The self-assessment framework has been introduced for the purposes of facilitating the assessment by authorised institutions’ (“AIs”) of their compliance with the regulatory requirements on AML and to supplement the HKMA’s on-site examinations ...
On 30 June 2005, the House of Lords delivered its judgment in National Westminster Bank plc v. Spectrum Plus Limited & others [2005] UKHL 41. The case has resolved a controversial legal issue concerning the distinction between a fixed charge and a floating charge. Fixed Charges and Floating Charges It may be helpful first to describe the basic difference between the operation of a fixed charge and that of a floating charge ...
The SFC has adopted a split approach in dealing with UCITS III funds. For funds which will adopt enhanced use of derivatives and make changes to their investment policies or objectives in migrating to UCITS III, the SFC requires: • a notice to existing holders explaining the proposed changes and confirmation from the fund or its manager that the home regulator has approved the final version of this notice ...
Under Part XV of the Securities & Futures Ordinance (SFO), where a company has an interest (or a short position) in Hong Kong listed shares, its holding company is deemed to have that interest; this attribution is carried the whole way up a corporate chain to the ultimate holding company. This imposes onerous monitoring requirements on financial services groups ...
The Companies (Amendment) Ordinance 2004 (the “Amendment Ordinance”) introduces, amongst other things, major relaxations to the prospectus regime in Hong Kong to facilitate market development. This bulletin summarises some of these changes brought by the Amendment Ordinance (The changes regarding prospectuses brought by the Amendment Ordinance as summarised in this bulletin came into operation on 3 December, 2004) ...
The SFC has recently settled a number of disciplinary cases on the basis of payment by the persons under investigations without admission of liabilities. Below are some examples of the settlement cases. SFC Withdrew Decision to Suspend Licence of a Licensed Representative The licence of a licensed representative was suspended by the SFC for six months by reason of his use of placing schemes to meet the placing requirements of the Listing Rules ...
Securitization involves the separation of the credit risk of one or more assets from the bankruptcy and credit risks of the owner of those assets (hereinafter, the “Originator”)1 and the issuance and sale of securities backed by the cash flow from those assets. The proceeds of the sale of the securities are then used for the purchase of the assets from the Originator ...
The Ministry of Information Industry ("MII") promulgated the Measures for the Administration of the Filing for the Record of Non-Commercial Internet Information Services (the "Recordal Measures") on 8 February 2005. The Recordal Measures took effect on 20 March 2005. It provides detailed guidelines on recordal filings for non-commercial websites ...
Summary ‡ Information security “breaches” take many forms and occur in a wide variety of settings. However, contrary to recent press reports, they do not appear to be increasing. ‡ Research indicates that only a small percentage of breaches result in any harmful use of data. ‡ Account fraud and true identity fraud — the two identity-based frauds most feared by consumers and policy makers — are actually declining ...
At the end of June, the US entertainment industry won a long fought victory to help bring file swappers to heel ...
The European Parliament dealt a blow to programmers seeking clarity on the patentability of computer-implemented inventions last month when it rejected a draft European Directive on the subject (the "CII Directive") by an overwhelming majority ...
National Westminster Bank plc v Spectrum Plus Limited and Others [2005] UKHL 41 Overruling the 25-year old judgement in Siebe Gorman & Co. Limited v Barclays Bank Limited [1979 2 Lloyd’s LR142], the House of Lords has held that a charge over book debts where the chargor is free to draw on the account into which proceeds of such book debts are paid, creates a floating charge, rather than a fixed charge ...
Obtaining a Receiving Order by a Single Creditor Introduction Under s. 43(1) of the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act, one or more creditors may file a Petition for a Receiving Order if: 1.the debt owing to the petitioning creditor or creditors amounts to $1,000; and 2.if the debtor has committed an act of bankruptcy within six months next preceding the filing of the petition ...
In our last newsletter we provided a summary of the Securities & Futures Commission’s (“SFC”) proposed amendments to the SFC’s guidelines on hedge funds. The SFC has now concluded its consultations and the hedge fund guidelines have been amended. As proposed, in assessing compliance of the personnel of investment managers with the requirement for five years relevant experience, a wider range of hedge fund experience will now be acceptable ...
In January 2005, the Hong Kong Securities & Futures Commission (“SFC”) issued a Consultation Paper on the disclosure of interests in securities of Hong Kong listed companies under Part XV of the Securities & Futures Ordinance (“SFO”). Conclusions to the consultation were issued in May 2005. The most significant of these include the following: Investment managers: non-aggregation Interests (and short positions) of companies are attributed to their holding companies and other “controllers” ...
Authorisation of funds by the Macau Monetary Authority (“MMA”) is necessary for funds to be distributed to the public in Macau. Authorisation will only be granted if the investment funds have been duly authorised in their country of origin and the respective funds managers and custodians are subject to supervision by a competent home regulator. In practice funds are usually authorised in Macau on the basis that they are already authorised by the SFC in Hong Kong ...
The SFC published its conclusions on the Consultation Paper on Proposed Amendments to the Schedule 5 to the Securities and Futures Ordinance in September. The Consultation Paper had proposed amendments to the definitions of certain regulated activities as set out in the SFO. The main proposals were: • To extend the definition of "asset management" to include management of real estate investment trusts ...
