United States

Under new rules, resource extraction issuers must disclose payments to governments

On December 16, 2020, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC or Commission) announced that it had adopted final rules requiring resource extraction issuers to disclose payments to governments related to the commercial development of oil, natural gas or minerals (the Rules). The Rules implement Section 13(q) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, which … Continue Reading

Part II: Navigating the US presidential transition – cross-border business and regulatory perspective

By Samuel Ramer (US) and Kevin Harnisch (US) on January 15, 2021 Posted in Africa, Asia, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Seminars and webinars, Seminars, webinars and podcasts, The Netherlands, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States

United States | January 26, 2021 | 10:00 am ET | 3:00 pm GMT In the second installment of our post-election webinar series, George E. Pataki, former Governor of New York, and Sam Ramer, former Senior Associate Counsel to President Trump, will consider the latest developments regarding the US presidential election. With one party now … Continue Reading

Financial Crime Outlook: 2021 and beyond

By Clarinda Grundy, Wilson Ang (SG), Sun Hong, Lisa Lee Lewis (UK), Kathleen Scott (US), Daniel Leslie (CA) and Jeremy Moller on January 14, 2021 Posted in Africa, Asia, Australia, Canada, Germany, Italy, Money laundering, Money laundering, Money laundering, Money laundering, Money laundering, Money laundering, The Netherlands, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States

Senior management and boards are increasingly acknowledging the threat of financial crime as a critical risk to their business that must be addressed. This has been exacerbated in the last 12 months through the impact of the pandemic as well as rising domestic and international tensions. Norton Rose Fulbright’s financial crime compliance specialists, located in … Continue Reading

FINRA (and selected SEC) regulatory matters at a glance: What compliance officers need to know

By Glen Barrentine (US) on January 11, 2021 Posted in Brokers and Intermediaries, Regulation and compliance, United States

Access the December issue for an overview of FINRA and SEC regulatory developments of interest to broker-dealers. Glen Barrentine is Of Counsel in the Denver office of Norton Rose Fulbright. His practice focuses broadly on SEC regulated financial service clients, including broker-dealers, securities exchanges, municipal advisors and investment advisers. Glen frequency represents clients in connection with … Continue Reading

CFTC and ESMA sign enhanced MoU related to certain recognised CCPs

By Simon Lovegrove (UK) on January 8, 2021 Posted in Clearing and settlement, Clearing and settlement, United Kingdom, United States

On 7 January 2021, the United States’ Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) announced that they had signed a new Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) regarding cooperation and exchange of information with respect to certain registered derivatives clearing organisations established in the United States that are central counterparties (CCPs) … Continue Reading

US banking regulators propose a rule for 36-hour notice of breach

By Kathleen Scott (US) on January 7, 2021 Posted in Banking, data protection, General, privacy and cybersecurity, Regulation and compliance, United States

On December 18, 2020, the US Department of the Treasury (Office of the Comptroller of the Currency), Federal Reserve Board and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) jointly announced a 53-page proposed rule that would require banks to notify their regulators within 36 hours of a “computer-security incident” that rises to the level of a “notification … Continue Reading

Congress Expands SEC Disgorgement Authority

By Kevin Harnisch (US), Mark Oakes (US) and Vijay Rao (US) on January 5, 2021 Posted in Enforcement, General, Regulation and compliance, Securities, United States

On January 1, 2021, the National Defense Authorization Act became effective after Congress overrode President Trump’s veto. Although unrelated to national defense issues, Section 6501 of the legislation amends Section 21(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to double the SEC’s statute of limitations for seeking disgorgement of a defendant’s unjust enrichment from five … Continue Reading

The Regulation Tomorrow Podcast – back in February 2021

By Arup Sen and Simon Lovegrove (UK) on January 5, 2021 Posted in Africa, Asia, Australia, Canada, Germany, Italy, Seminars, webinars and podcasts, The Netherlands, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States

The Regulation Tomorrow Podcast will be back in February 2021 with episode 4. To listen to episode 3, where we discussed Brexit, vulnerable customer initiatives and also gave an enforcement update, please click here. The Regulation Tomorrow Podcast is available to download and subscribe to on Apple Podcasts, iTunes and Soundcloud. We are keen to … Continue Reading

New whistleblower provisions for reporting AML violations

By Kathleen Scott (US) on January 4, 2021 Posted in Enforcement, General, Money laundering, Regulation and compliance, United States

The National Defense Authorization Act was enacted on January 1, 2021, after the Senate joined the House in overriding President Trump’s veto of the bill. In addition to authorizing appropriations for the Department of Defense, the new law also contains several provisions designed to improve policies and procedures aimed at policing money laundering and terrorism … Continue Reading

New beneficial ownership requirements should help with AML KYC obligations

By Kathleen Scott (US) on January 3, 2021 Posted in Asset management, Banking, Brokers and Intermediaries, Commodities & Derivatives, Enforcement, General, Money laundering, Regulation and compliance, United States

When banks and certain other financial institutions open accounts for entities, among other anti-money laundering (AML) customer identification requirements, they must obtain beneficial ownership information on individuals owning 25% or more of the entity and a person with significant control over the entity such as a president or chief executive officer. We have published several … Continue Reading

SEC continues to allow broker-dealers to rely on investment advisers for customer KYC requirements

By Kathleen Scott (US) on January 2, 2021 Posted in Asset management, Brokers and Intermediaries, Enforcement, General, Money laundering, Regulation and compliance, United States

In a December 9, 2020, letter, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) extended its no-action relief to broker-dealers in securities (“broker-dealers”) that wish to rely on investment advisers to perform the broker-dealer’s obligations under US federal anti-money laundering (“AML”) customer identification program and beneficial owner identification regulations. First provided in 2004 regarding customer identification … Continue Reading

UK Risk Retention Requirements Post Brexit

By David Shearer (UK) and Rae Parsons (UK) on December 31, 2020 Posted in Banking, Brexit, Brexit, General, Germany, Italy, Regulation and compliance, Securitization, The Netherlands, United Kingdom, United States

Having only days previously made statements that such a deal was unlikely and warning their citizens to prepare for a no deal Brexit, the United Kingdom (UK) and the European Union (EU) announced on 24 December 2020 that they had reached an agreement in principle on trade and co-operation. More than 1200 pages long, the … Continue Reading

Supervisory Guidance on managing FX settlement risk and the Global FX Code

By Simon Lovegrove (UK) on December 21, 2020 Posted in Australia, Canada, Clearing and settlement, Clearing and Settlement, Clearing and settlement, Clearing and settlement, Clearing and settlement, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, United Kingdom, United States

On 18 December 2020, there was published a letter from the chairs from the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS) and the Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures (CPMI) encouraging bank supervisors and banks and other participants in the FX market to follow the expectations set out in the 2013 BCBS Supervisory Guidance on managing … Continue Reading

FSB global report on non-bank financial intermediation

On 16 December 2020, the Financial Stability Board published its latest global monitoring report on non-bank financial intermediation. The report presents the results of the annual FSB monitoring exercise to assess global trends and risks in non-bank financial intermediation (NBFI), covering 29 jurisdictions that account for 80% of global GDP. The annual monitoring exercise focuses … Continue Reading

FATF update on COVID-19 related money laundering and terrorist financing risks

By Lisa Lee Lewis (UK) and Weronika Sowa on December 18, 2020 Posted in Africa, Asia, Australia, Canada, Germany, Italy, Money laundering, Money laundering, Money laundering, Money laundering, Money laundering, The Netherlands, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States

On 16 December 2020, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) published a paper providing entities with additional information on COVID-19 related money laundering and terrorist financing risks. The paper covers both changes in predicate offences and changes in money laundering and terrorist financing activity. It provides selected case studies, displaying criminal activity that has occurred … Continue Reading

US Federal Reserve joins NGFS and two new publications released

By Daniel Nevzat (UK) on December 16, 2020 Posted in Africa, Asia, Australia, Canada, ESG, ESG, ESG, ESG, Germany, Italy, Regulation, Regulation and compliance, Regulation and compliance, Regulation and compliance, Regulatory Compliance, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States

On 15 December 2020, the Network for Greening the Financial System (NGFS) announced the following new members: US Federal Reserve System, Central Bank of Paraguay, Financial Regulatory Authority of Egypt, Financial Services Authority of Indonesia, Central Bank of Iceland, Polish Financial Supervision Authority, Central Bank of Uruguay and the European Securities and Markets Authority. The … Continue Reading

Basel III monitoring results based on end-December 2019 data published by the Basel Committee

By Simon Lovegrove (UK) on December 11, 2020 Posted in Africa, Asia, Australia, Canada, Capital adequacy, Capital adequacy, Capital adequacy, Capital adequacy, Capital adequacy, Capital Adequacy, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States

On 10 December 2020, the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision issued the results of its latest Basel III monitoring exercise, based on data as of 31 December 2019. The report sets out the impact of the Basel III framework that was agreed in 2010 as well as the effects of the Basel Committee’s finalisation of … Continue Reading

FSB paper – Continuity of access to FMIs for firms in resolution: Informal summary of outreach and Q&A

On 9 December 2020, the Financial Stability Board (FSB) issued a paper setting out the answers to questions raised at a virtual outreach meeting which sought to provide stakeholders with further information concerning the questionnaire that was published in August for gathering information about continuity of access to financial market infrastructures (FMIs) for firms in … Continue Reading

Regulation Tomorrow Podcast – Episode 3 out now

By Jonathan Herbst (UK), Katie Stephen (UK), Helen Taylor (AU), John Coley (UK), Sonya Zywko (UK), Simon Lovegrove (UK) and Arup Sen on December 11, 2020 Posted in Africa, Asia, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Seminars, webinars and podcasts, The Netherlands, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States

Episode 3 of the Regulation Tomorrow Podcast is out now. In this month’s episode we catch up on Brexit with Jonathan Herbst, we take a global look at vulnerable customer initiatives with John Coley from the Risk Consultancy practice in London and Helen Taylor from Sydney, and we speak to Katie Stephen and Sonya Zywko … Continue Reading

Conduct Healthcheck | Find out more in our latest video

By John Coley (UK) and Iain Hawthorn on December 11, 2020 Posted in Africa, Asia, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Risk consulting, The Netherlands, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States

Last week our Risk Consulting team launched the Conduct Healthcheck, a new product which will provide retail financial institutions with practical insights, analysis and guidance, helping them to navigate the conduct challenges and risks they are facing in respect of the pandemic. To find out more about the Conduct Healthcheck, watch our short video in which … Continue Reading

The LIBOR Transition – Extension of Certain LIBOR Tenors After 2021

By Patrick Dolan (US), Kathleen Scott (US) and Mary Kate LeViness (US) on December 10, 2020 Posted in General, LIBOR, United States

The Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. (“ICE”) recently released a consultation that the administrator of LIBOR, ICE Benchmark Administration Limited (“IBA”), requesting feedback on a decision to cease publication of the overnight, one-, three-, six- and twelve-month U.S. Dollar LIBOR (“LIBOR”). The previous expectation was that publication would stop at the end of 2021. It now appears … Continue Reading

DeFi: Insurance / Alternative Risk Coverage

By Charlotte Rowlandson on December 8, 2020 Posted in Africa, Asia, Australia, Canada, Fintech, Fintech, FinTech, Fintech, Fintech, Fintech, Fintech, Fintech, Fintech, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, United Kingdom, United States

In this series of blogposts, we explore some of the main types of decentralised finance (DeFi) applications (dApps), and key areas of legal risk that may be of particular relevance for that type of application or product. In this second blogpost in the series, we consider the nature of tokenised insurance or alternative risk coverage … Continue Reading

Blockchain Law: the fork not taken

By Kathleen Scott (US) on December 7, 2020 Posted in Fintech, General, United States

Is the token holder – often the holder of some sort of digital currency – always free to choose which branch of the fork to take? A blockchain is often thought of as a record of a single continuous sequential series of transactions, but sometimes the chain can branch off into a new direction from … Continue Reading

New York City PACE administrator provides program update

By Patrick Dolan (US), Bill Medaille (US) and Leslie Teng (US) on December 5, 2020 Posted in Banking, Energy, General, Regulation and compliance, United States

As we discussed in our October blogpost “Advances in New York City PACE programs,” the New York City Department of Finance (“NYCDOF”) has published for comment proposed rules that would establish criteria and program guidelines for the New York City Commercial Property Assessment Clean Energy (“C-PACE”) Program. The proposed rules establish eligibility criteria for obtaining … Continue Reading