Against the backdrop of the comprehensive recast of European Union ("EU") banking legislation, the EU legislator is increasingly focused on Environmental, Social, and Governance ("ESG") risks. In this context, ad hoc...more
The Situation: Prior to the enactment of Capital Requirements Directive ("CRD") VI, corporate governance rules for the financial services industry were not harmonized across EU Member States....more
The Situation: The European Union ("EU") banking legislation has been substantially reviewed and provides notably for a new regime applicable to cross-border activities from non-EU jurisdictions....more
On May 28, 2024, the Chair of the Supervisory Board of the European Central Bank ("ECB"), Claudia Buch, announced the decision to reform the current process of annual review of credit institutions under direct ECB supervision...more
In Short -
The Situation: France has had a registration and licensing process for digital assets service providers for over three years. The recent crisis with Terra Luna and FTX trading platform has made it clear to...more
In 2022, anti-money laundering ("AML") and sanctions controls were at the center of regulatory and enforcement activities in the United States and abroad. Globally, governments have continued to recognize the impact of AML...more
In Short -
The Situation: Regulatory "sandboxes" are trending. They represent a unique approach to regulation that permits selected companies to test and experiment with new and innovative products and services....more
In Short -
The Situation: The European Union's Fourth Anti-Money Laundering ("AML") Directive (Directive (EU) 2015/849 of May 20, 2015) granted broad access to information relating to the beneficial owners of companies...more
On July 8, 2022, the European Central Bank ("ECB") released the results from its annual stress tests, this year focused on banks' ability to incorporate climate risk stress testing into their risk management frameworks. The...more
On June 29, 2022, the European Parliament, the Commission, and the Council reached a provisional agreement on the European Union proposal to update Regulation 2015/847 on information accompanying the transfer of funds ("TFR")...more
2021 was a precedent-setting year for anti-money laundering (“AML”) enforcement and legislation. The digital assets industry continued to grow exponentially, driving the associated AML risks to the forefront of regulatory...more
3/10/2022
/ AML/CFT ,
Anti-Money Laundering ,
BSA/AML ,
Corruption ,
Cryptoassets ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Financial Crimes ,
FinCEN ,
Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act (JASTA) ,
Terrorist Financing Regulations ,
Virtual Currency
After June 30, 2021, large asset managers will no longer have the option to "explain" noncompliance with Article 4 of EU Regulation (EU) 2019/2088 on sustainability‐related disclosures in the financial services sector...more
An interest group of EU banks that was formed to assist European financial institutions with their use of public cloud technology recently suggested model terms for the compliant use of cloud technology.
On May 17, 2021,...more
More than a year ago the world fell victim to a global pandemic that would change life in ways that could never have been predicted. In the early stages of the pandemic, we published a White Paper directed at financial...more
An order was published on December 23, 2020, amending the order of September 5, 2007, relating to the nonfinancial activities that French investment firms may conduct.
As a matter of principle, and similarly to credit...more
The Situation: On January 4, 2021, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency ("OCC") issued an Interpretive Letter permitting national banks and federal savings associations ("Banks") to participate in independent node...more
1/19/2021
/ Banking Sector ,
Cryptoassets ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Assets ,
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) ,
Financial Services Industry ,
FinCEN ,
Interpretive Letters ,
OCC ,
Popular ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Stablecoins
The Development: New Regulation (EU) 2020/2176 (the "Regulation") provides regulatory capital relief, allowing certain software assets to be considered when calculating Common Equity Tier 1 ("CET1") capital. It entered into...more
The Situation: Although the deadline keeps getting extended, e-commerce merchants and payment processors across the European Union are racing to implement the strong customer authentication ("SCA") requirements of the Revised...more
The Situation: The New York State Department of Financial Services ("DFS") and the European Banking Authority ("EBA") have published guidance relating to Environmental, Social, and Corporate Governance ("ESG")...more
Regulation (EU) 2019/2033 on the prudential requirements of investment firms and Directive (EU) 2019/2034 on the prudential supervision of investment firms (collectively, "IFR/IFD Framework") significantly change the...more
The Situation: The requirement for a paper-based note for issuing securities under the German law has been an obstacle for the use of security tokens in Germany. With the release of a draft bill (the "Bill") permitting the...more
The United Kingdom and European Union look to give powers to regulators, rather than using direct legislation, to deal with existing contracts that prove unable to convert or be amended to include fallbacks ahead of IBOR...more
The economic crisis caused by the spread of the coronavirus triggered an unprecedented response from European governments to support their economies with various measures of support.
This overview summarizes the various...more
7/6/2020
/ Business Interruption ,
Coronavirus Large Business Interruption Loan Scheme (the CLBILS) ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
EU ,
European Commission ,
Infectious Diseases ,
Member State ,
Public Health Emergency ,
Relief Measures ,
State Aid ,
State of Emergency
The Situation: The European Commission issued an Action Plan on Anti-Money Laundering/Combating the Financing of Terrorism ("AML/CFT") in response to recent money laundering scandals and concerns of an increase in crime due...more
6/19/2020
/ AML/CFT ,
AMLD V ,
Banking Sector ,
Criminal Investigations ,
Cross-Border Transactions ,
EU Action Plans ,
European Banking Authority (EBA) ,
European Commission ,
Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) ,
International Data Transfers ,
Law Enforcement
The Situation: On June 3, 2020, the European Securities Market Authority ("ESMA") published a consultation paper on Outsourcing to Cloud Service Providers ("Proposed Guidelines"), which will apply to any institution under the...more