The New York Department of Financial Services recently reached a settlement with National Securities Corp. related to multiple cybersecurity violations.… Continue Reading
Legislation has been introduced in the US House of Representatives directed at regulating virtual currency. In a post from the Norton Rose Fulbright Project Finance blog available, Deanne Barrow analyzes the bills. Readers interested in learning more about cryptocurrency can sign up for updates on our FinTech law and regulation page.… Continue Reading
The Financial Sector Regulation Bill was signed into law by President Zuma on 21 August 2017. The commencement dates for the new Financial Sector Regulation Act (FSR Act) are not yet known. The act provides the architecture for the new ‘twin peaks’ method of regulation to be adopted across the South African financial services industry, and is … Continue Reading
The pending changes to the Medical Schemes Act and the Long-term and Short-term Insurance Acts to accommodate the demarcation regulations were made on 1 April 2017 including the new definition of ‘business of a medical scheme’. The definition of ‘business of a medical scheme’ in the Medical Schemes Act 1998 makes it clear that if you … Continue Reading
The Government of Ontario has released a public consultation regarding regulations related to the new prohibition on expiry of rewards points issued to consumers. The consultation document, which is available here, includes commentary from the Government and proposed regulatory text. Comments are due by April 28, 2017. Background On December 8, 2016, the Government passed … Continue Reading
On June 29, 2016, the federal Government published the final version of the long-awaited regulations (Amending Regulations) to amend various regulations (Regulations) under the Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act (PCMLTFA). The Amending Regulations came into force on June 30, 2016, however, there is an almost one year delay for the provisions … Continue Reading
The SEC adopted a new rule mandated by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (the “Dodd Frank Act”) that requires public companies to disclose the ratio of the compensation of its chief executive officer (“CEO”) to the median compensation of its employees. The rule requires disclosure of this pay ratio in registration … Continue Reading
On May 7, 2015, the CFTC published in the Federal Register a proposal to eliminate the odd-yet-burdensome Form TO, which for the past two years has been required of derivatives end-users to report certain information to the CFTC regarding their trading in commodity trade options. If the proposal is adopted as final after the close … Continue Reading
Cybersecurity has recently become a high priority issue at the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) – the agency overseeing designated contract markets, swap execution facilities, derivatives clearing organizations, swap data repositories (SDRs), swap dealers, futures commission merchants, commodity pool operators and other derivatives market participants. CFTC Articulates Unique Cybersecurity Concerns CFTC Chairman Timothy Massad … Continue Reading
Despite the increase in mobile payment services globally, the terms “mobile money” and/or “mobile payment services” are not specifically regulated in any piece of South African legislation. However, the acceptance of deposits from the general public by a person (natural or juristic) is regulated by the Banks Act Section 11 provides that only a registered … Continue Reading
The South African Minister of Health, Dr Aaron Motsoaledi called a Medico-Legal Summit on 9 and 10 March 2015 which we participated in as part of the Ministerial task team appointed to look into the rise of medical negligence claims against the healthcare sector. The objective of the Summit, which was attended by interested stakeholders … Continue Reading
In the first formal step toward hedge fund regulation in South Africa, National Treasury has published a s63 declaration under the Collective Investment Schemes Control Act, 2002 (CISCA). Investment funds conducting the business of a hedge fund will, from 1 April 2015, become collective investment schemes (CIS) and will be regulated by CISCA. Hedge funds … Continue Reading
In February 2014 the South African Revenue Service (SARS) announced that the implementation date of the FATCA Agreement with the USA was 28 October 2014. What does this mean? FATCA is the international agreement imposed by the USA on all signatories (which in effect means any country wishing to remain on cordial financial terms with … Continue Reading
Increased regulation on the horizon Earmarked as a contributor to the 2008 financial crisis, over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives were one of the financial instruments identified by the G20 summit as needing increased regulation. Different jurisdictions have approached the regulation of OTC derivatives in their own manner. In South Africa, regulation has been addressed in the Financial … Continue Reading
