The Situation: Following the enactment earlier in 2019 of new French legislation to regulate activities related to digital assets (including cryptocurrency but excluding tokenized securities), final regulatory provisions were...more
1/2/2020
/ AML/CFT ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Assets ,
Financial Instruments ,
Financial Statements ,
France ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
Investment ,
New Legislation ,
Popular ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Token Sales ,
Virtual Currency
The Situation: The European Banking Authority ("EBA") issued its Action Plan on Sustainable Finance ("Action Plan") on December 6, 2019, setting forth an outline for its deliverables and activities related to environmental,...more
Recent laws—such as the 2016 Sapin 2 Law and the new EU General Data Protection Regulation—provide for rules that are intended to ensure compliance with the French Blocking Statute, which prohibits any French party from...more
6/18/2019
/ Blocking Statutes ,
Cross-Border ,
Data Protection ,
Discovery ,
Document Productions ,
Evidence ,
Extraterritoriality Rules ,
France ,
General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) ,
Hague Convention ,
Litigation Strategies ,
Regulatory Standards
The Situation: ICOs and digital assets have become a new phenomenon that has impacted many aspects of our modern economies and created an alternative way of financing for start-ups or small and medium-sized...more
5/29/2019
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
Criminal Sanctions ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Digital Assets ,
Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Financial Instruments ,
France ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
Registration Requirement ,
Token Sales
The Situation: The European Banking Authority ("EBA") published its Final Report on EBA Draft Guidelines on Outsourcing Arrangements ("Guidelines") on February 25, 2019, which will eventually replace the existing CEBS...more
The Situation: In 2017, French authorities amended laws to permit the use of blockchain, or distributed ledger technology ("DLT"), for trading nonlisted securities.
The Result: The regulation governing the use of DLTs and...more
The Situation: In response to recent cases of money laundering in European banks, the European Union has released an action plan to reinforce its recently proposed anti-money laundering ("AML") and Countering Financing of...more
The Situation: The French government has presented a new bill in order to prepare for a "Hard" Brexit scenario.
The Result: If the United Kingdom leaves the European Union in March 2019 without an overall deal—or with a...more
11/9/2018
/ Consumer Financial Products ,
Cross-Border ,
EU ,
European Economic Area (EEA) ,
Financial Services Industry ,
France ,
Insolvency ,
ISDA ,
Legacy Contracts ,
Safe Harbors ,
UK ,
UK Brexit
The Court Decision: On September 25, 2018, the Higher Regional Court of Berlin held that bitcoins would not qualify as financial instruments for the purposes of the German Banking Act (Kreditwesengesetz, "KWG"), thus...more
11/1/2018
/ BaFin ,
Cross-Border Transactions ,
Cryptocurrency ,
Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) ,
EU ,
German Banking Act ,
Germany ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
MiFID II ,
Securities Regulation ,
Token Sales
The EU Commission is proposing measures to increase financial sector supervision in the wake of money laundering incidents.
The European Commission recently proposed expanding the Europe Banking Authority’s ("EBA") mandate...more
10/2/2018
/ Amended Legislation ,
Anti-Money Laundering ,
Cross-Border ,
EU ,
European Banking Authority (EBA) ,
European Commission ,
European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) ,
European Supervisory Authorities (ESAs) ,
Financial Institutions ,
Member State ,
Risk Assessment
The Situation: The European Central Bank ("ECB") has announced that it will set bank-specific supervisory expectations for the provisioning of non-performing loans ("NPLs") in a consistent way across comparable banks, which...more
The Situation: Delayed by two months, the long-awaited bill of President Macron's government relating to economic reforms and simplification of companies' day-to-day operations was tabled to the Cabinet on June 22, 2018....more
7/2/2018
/ Capital Markets ,
Cryptocurrency ,
EU ,
Financial Collateral Directive (FCD) ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Markets ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Foreign Investment ,
France ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
President Macron ,
Privatization ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Risk Management ,
UK Brexit
President Trump has signed into law the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act ("Act"), with the principal goals of promoting U.S. economic growth, recalibrating burdensome rules, and strengthening...more
6/11/2018
/ Banks ,
Dodd-Frank ,
Economic Growth Regulatory Relief and Consumer Protection Act ,
Federal Reserve ,
Financial Institutions ,
Financial Regulatory Reform ,
Financial Services Industry ,
Mortgage Loan Originators ,
Mortgages ,
Popular ,
Trump Administration ,
Volcker Rule
The Situation: The second EU Payment Services Directive requires banks to give third-party payment service providers ("TPPs") access to the bank accounts of their customers (with their consent), in order to enable TPPs to...more
The Situation: French investors continue to show interest in initial coin offerings.
The Result: The French Financial Market Authority has launched a public consultation to assess whether ICOs might fall within the scope...more
12/1/2017
/ AMF ,
Blockchain ,
Corporate Governance ,
Debt Securities ,
Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) ,
France ,
Initial Coin Offering (ICOs) ,
Investors ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Token Sales ,
UCITS
The Situation: French authorities intend to amend securities laws to permit the use of blockchain technology. In March 2017, the French Treasury launched public consultation relating to the use of such technology and its...more
As the interest in blockchain technology grows, companies will be confronted with numerous decisions, challenges, and legal issues pertaining to its adoption. Relevant matters include the overall design and control of...more
9/6/2017
/ Australia ,
Blockchain ,
China ,
Cybersecurity ,
Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) ,
Financial Institutions ,
Foreign Jurisdictions ,
France ,
Germany ,
Hong Kong ,
Japan ,
Patents ,
Popular ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Singapore ,
Smart Contracts ,
Supply Chain ,
UK