The SFC recently issued a press release and a circular on risk disclosure. The circular reminds issuers of retail investment products, including authorised funds, of their duty to include in offering documents sufficient relevant risk information for investors to make an informed investment decision, and for marketing materials to be "clear, fair and present a balanced picture with adequate and prominent risk disclosure" ...
Recently, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York announced a new program to facilitate the issuance of shortterm commercial paper (“CP”) by eligible issuers. The program was launched on Monday, October 27, 2008. The program is being administered by a new special purpose financing vehicle (“SPV”) that is referred to as the Commercial Paper Financing Facility, or “CPFF ...
Bolivian law contemplates two procedures by which local companies with financial difficulties, are ultimately obliged to sell their assets in order to satisfy existing payment obligations, be it through a mandatory dissolution and liquidation or through a judicial bankruptcy procedure. I ...
As a consequence of the complexity of Hong Kong’s disclosure of interests regime, local substantial shareholders and global investment houses alike frequently fall foul of its provisions. Even robust monitoring and reporting systems can fail to cater to idiosyncrasies of the Hong Kong regime ...
1. What types of collateral are available? Real estate, operating and other licence rights or concessions, leaseholds, buildings, moveable property, contractual lights, receivables, shares, securities, onshore and offshore bank accounts, entire enterprises, after-acquired property, proceeds from investments and the sale of collateral are all available ...
Best Practices & Standards The hedge fund industry has experienced trying times over the past few months. Year-end redemption requests have flooded the sector. Scandals such as the so-called "ponzi" scheme allegedly carried out by Bernard Madoff resulting in billions of dollars in losses have shaken the industry ...
Following certain onsite inspections, the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) issued a Circular in October 2008 setting out various standards of conduct and control procedures that the SFC views as being "generally expected" of a Hong Kong-licensed hedge fund manager (HKHFM) ...
ALTIUS contributed to a publication on International Acquisition Finance accross mutiple jurisdictions. The volume provides counsel with a full insight into the law and regulation across numerous jurisdictions. Johan De Bruycker, Caroline Wildemeersch and Kasper Van Landeghem from ALTIUS' Banking & Finance team untangle the complications of debt funding regimes for the Belgian jurisdiction. 1 ...
Reduction in Income Tax for Publicly Owned Companies The Ministry of Finance recently issued regulation No.238/PMK.03/2008 of 2008 regarding the Procedures for and Supervision of the Granting of Tariff Reductions to Local Entity Tax Payers which are Publicly Owned Companies ...
New Law on Aviation In order to keep up with the development of the aviation industry in Indonesia, on 17 December 2008, the House of Representatives passed the Bill on Aviation. This Bill came in force on 12 January 2009 as Law No 1 of 2009 regarding Aviation (“Law 1”) ...
Technical Resolution 26 – FACPCE Dated March 20, 2009 the FACPCE (Argentine Federation of Economic Sciences Professional Boards) approved Technical Resolution No. 26 “Adoption of the International Financial Reporting Standards of the Board” effective as from the years commenced after January 1st, 2011, not admitting an earlier application ...
I. Legal Framework The banking business in the Republic of Panama is regulated by Decree-Law No. 9 of February 26, 1998 and its amendments (the “Banking Law”). The Banking Law created the Superintendency of Banks (the “Superintendency”), which is the government agency in charge of supervising and overseeing banking operations and the exercise of the banking business in the Republic of Panama ...
I. Background The need to amend the Panamanian maritime legislation, amongst others, came as an effort to incorporate long standing practices that had been developed but were not regulated in our national laws, to promote the registration of vessels in our registry by attracting new tonnage and rewarding both loyalty to the flag and compliance with safety standards of vessels already registered in Panama ...
On June 17, 2009, the Obama administration issued a "white paper" which proposes a sweeping reorganization of financial-market supervision. The plan would touch almost every corner of banking from how mortgages are underwritten to the way exotic financial instruments are traded. The plan will undoubtedly be modified during the Legislative process. Banks in other countries have already objected to the proposed international effects ...
IntroductionAs of 8 January 2009, Belgian listed companies and financial undertakings are required to have an audit committee. The Law of 17 December 2008 on the establishment of an audit committee in listed companies and financial undertakings (the “Law”) then enters into force ...
1. IntroductionThe Royal Decree of 8 October 2008 amending the Belgian Companies Code (“BCC”) has amended the rules on financial assistance. The new rules entered into force on 1 January 2009. The Royal Decree implements European Directive 2006/68/EC amending the Second Company Law Directive. The Belgian rules on financial assistance apply to public limited-liability companies (NV/SA), private limited-liability companies (BVBA/SPRL), partnerships limited by shares (Comm ...
On the 1st June 2009, the major parts of the Insolvency Act 2009 (“the Act”) came into operation. The Act has completely revamped the insolvency regime in Mauritius and new provisions now govern “voidable transactions” following a company liquidation. The “ordinary course of business” test, which was prevailing under the former regime, has now been abandoned and replaced by what is known as the “running account principle” ...
A small measure of relief may be coming to some beleaguered Michigan communities that have been struggling recently with the difficult question of what actions they can realistically take to encourage much-needed local economic development while remaining cognizant of the financial limitations associated with lower revenues, higher costs and uncertain economic projections. The answer for some might be found in recovery zone financings ...
The growth in money laundering activities and terrorism financing using financial institutions requires concrete action to eradicate these criminal activities. The diversity of products, activities and information technology available in the banking sector has resulted in an increase in the use of banks for money laundering and terrorism funding ...
Bank Indonesia issued Bank Indonesia Regulation Number 11/26/PBI/2009 dated 1 July 2009 on Prudential Principles in the Implementation of Structured Products Activities for Commercial Banks (“BI Reg.11/26/PBI/2009”) ...
Self-regulation of retail banking came to an end on 1 November 2009 with the establishment by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) of a new banking conduct regime. This new regime largely replaces the voluntary Banking Codes and comprises: 1 ...
As an initiative to develop Islamic finance and Islamic fund management in Hong Kong, the SFC signed a Declaration on Mutual Cooperation on Development of Islamic Capital Market and Islamic Collective Investment Schemes (Declaration) with the Securities Commission of Malaysia (MSC) on 9 November 2009, which provides a framework for the mutual recognition of Islamic funds (excluding hedge funds, wholesale funds and real estate investment trusts as defined in the
Chapter 10.2 of the SFC's Code on Unit Trusts and Mutual Funds (Code) requires that pricing errors for SFC authorised funds should be corrected as soon as possible and all necessary action should be taken to avoid errors occurring in the future. If the pricing error results in an incorrect price of 0 ...
As a consequence of the recent wave of successful SFC insider dealing criminal prosecutions, responsible officers (ROs) are asking what they need to do to protect their companies and themselves. ROs are obliged to take all reasonable measures to ensure that proper safeguards exist to prevent the licensed corporation and its employees from insider dealing ...
Following the public consultation early this year on proposals for a legislative framework to upgrade the current anti-money laundering (AML) regime in the financial sector, Hong Kong's Financial Services and Treasury Bureau (FSTB) has launched a second-round consultation ...
