In this edition of Regulation Around the World we review the position regarding beneficial ownership registers which has come into the spotlight following work by the Financial Action Task Force and the introduction of reforms in a number of jurisdictions. Identifying beneficial owners has always been a difficult task for both regulators and financial institutions … Continue Reading
We have now updated our two guides on the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (AIFMD), which has now been in force for approximately nine years. Both guides are now in their fifth iteration. The first guide considers whether the AIFMD marketing passport is working in practice and is a useful tool for managers as it … Continue Reading
In the second in our global series of regulatory podcasts focusing on conduct issues, financial services partners from Australia, Hong Kong, Luxembourg, Germany, United Kingdom and the United States consider the cross border distribution of funds by focussing on the following five topics: What trends or industry developments are you seeing in your jurisdiction as … Continue Reading
Institutional investors collaborate with each other when communicating with investee companies’ management regarding, for example, ESG matters. Such shareholder collaboration leads to challenges in multiple legal areas. Minimising such legal risk is key. NRF’s Shareholder Collaboration Tool allows Institutional investors to confidently collaborate, while reducing the burden on legal teams to manage the associated risks. … Continue Reading
Against the backdrop of recent turmoil in the crypto market and with increasing regulatory scrutiny in this area, understanding the regulators’ approach to investigations and enforcement and how best to avoid the common pitfalls is even more of a priority. In the latest webinar of our financial services crypto series, members of our global financial … Continue Reading
Tuesday, 7 June, 2022 08:00 – 09:00 BST / 11:00 – 12:00 GST / 15:00 – 16:00 HKT 11:00 – 12:00 EDT / 16:00 – 17:00 BST / 19:00 – 20:00 GST In this webinar, members of our global financial services team will compare notes on their jurisdiction’s approach to crypto funds. The speakers will … Continue Reading
On 10 June 2021, the Electronic Securities Act (Gesetz über elektronische Wertpapiere – eWpG) came into force. With the introduction of the eWpG, Germany has further opened up its securities laws for digital securities and bearer bonds (Inhaberschuldverschreibungen) and certain fund units (Fondsanteile) may now be issued as electronic securities. When issuing such electronic securities, … Continue Reading
29 April 2021 09:00 – 10:00 BST / 16:00 – 17:00 HKT 16:00 – 17:00 BST / 11:00 – 12:00 EDT As the global crypto-economy continues to grow and mature, one area stands out as a critical core capability: custody. In this webinar, members of our global financial services team will compare notes on their … Continue Reading
On 16 February at 11am – 12pm CET our financial services team in Germany will be holding a webinar exploring the key implications of the end of the Brexit transition period for the payments sector in Germany. In this webinar, presented in English, we will examine what the Brexit trade deal means for the payment … Continue Reading
On 8 December 2020 at 9:30am to 10:30am (GMT) we are holding a webinar in English that will examine the BaFin’s proposed amendments to the “Minimum Requirements for Risk Management (Mindestanforderungen an das Risikomanagement, MaRisk)”, which, among other things, details outsourcing requirements in Germany. The webinar will also consider a new draft act that the … Continue Reading
On 19 November 2020, the German Regulator (BaFin) issued a notice on UK investment funds and their status in light of the imminent expiry of the transition period and the UK qualifying as a third country after 31 December 2020. Currently, UK UCITS and AIFs benefit from the EU-passport regime, which facilitates marketing of EU-UCITS … Continue Reading
At the end of the transition period UK investment firms will lose the right to passport their investment services in the EEA, EEA investment firms will also lose the right to passport their investment services into the UK. With the increasing possibility that the transition period will end without a free trade agreement and mutual … Continue Reading
Episode 2 of the Regulation Tomorrow podcast is out now, make sure to listen and subscribe. We chat to Jonathan Herbst about the latest Brexit news, Caroline Herkströter discusses current thinking around reverse solicitation, and Lisa Lee Lewis explains some of the findings of our recently conducted Global Operational Resilience Survey. The Regulation Tomorrow Podcast … Continue Reading
Episode 2 of the Regulation Tomorrow podcast is out next week, so make sure to listen and subscribe. In episode 2 we will be chatting to Jonathan Herbst on the latest Brexit news, Caroline Herkströter will discuss the German thinking around reverse solicitation, and Lisa Lee Lewis will explain some of the findings of Norton … Continue Reading
With every day that passes without apparent progress towards an agreement on financial services or equivalence, the more firms we see putting in place arrangements to enable them to continue business across Europe. On 22 October members of our financial services and regulation team in London, Paris, Frankfurt, Amsterdam and Milan will be hosting a … Continue Reading
On 17 September 2020, the European Banking Authority (EBA) published an online survey to receive input from credit institutions on their practices and views in the area of disclosure of information on environmental, social and governance (ESG) risks. The survey, which is addressed to large credit institutions that will be required to disclose prudential information … Continue Reading
The new European Disclosure Regulation provides the central schedule of obligations for ESG-related disclosures in the EU financial services sector. Many of the disclosure requirements start to apply from 10 March 2021 and therefore all financial market participants and financial advisors need to start considering the content of the requirements in order to address the … Continue Reading
On 20 May 2020, the European Central Bank (ECB) published a draft guide for consultation that explains how it expects banks to safely and prudently manage climate-related and environmental risks and disclose such risks transparently under the current prudential framework. Whilst the ECB’s immediate attention is on the COVID-19 pandemic, it remains committed to further … Continue Reading
In order to sell their expertise to German institutional and retail investors, non-German asset managers must find ways to operate in the German investment market. This has become much more difficult under the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive. An attractive option is to cooperate with a German Master-KVG. We have recently published a new client … Continue Reading
Germany has adopted a new regulatory regime for crypto assets in connection with the implementation of the Fifth Anti-Money Laundering Directive (AMLD5). On 29 November 2019, the second chamber of the German parliament (Bundesrat) approved the “Act on the Implementation of the Amendment Directive to the Fourth EU Money Laundering Directive” (Gesetz zur Umsetzung der Änderungsrichtlinie … Continue Reading
As demand for environmental, social and governance (ESG) investments increases, we consider what is driving demand, and the implications for asset managers, including changes to their duties and disclosure obligations. This webinar focuses on developments in the EU, with a particular focus on the UK, the Netherlands and Germany. The webinar can be found on … Continue Reading
The German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) has issued a guidance notice on dealing with sustainability risks (ESG Guidance Notice). The binding German version was published on 20 December 2019 and later editorially modified on 13 January 2020. Further, BaFin has now also made available an English convenience translation. The German regulator had launched a consultation based on … Continue Reading
In our latest financial services and sustainability video, Caroline Herkströter and Simon Lovegrove discuss BaFin’s guidance notice on sustainability risk. The video can be found here. For more videos and insights on ESG and sustainable finance, please visit our dedicated knowledge hub, ESG Insight.… Continue Reading
The use of IT is of fundamental importance for the finance industry. After having already published two circulars on supervisory IT requirements for financial institutions and insurance undertakings in the past (BAIT and VAIT), the German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (Bundesanstalt für Finanzdienstleistungsaufsicht – BaFin) has now also published a circular on the supervisory requirements … Continue Reading
