By Zainab Kuku
The FCA did not hold back in its most recent comments to ESG benchmark administrators, in an indication of its increasingly adversarial approach to ‘greenwashing’. It described the quality of disclosures of ESG factors considered in benchmark methodologies as ‘poor’, and aimed clear warning shots at administrators who fail to comply with the FCA’s feedback.
Read MoreNon-transparent exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that are struggling to fit in digital advertisements the specific risk legend set forth in their exemptive orders (Exemptive Order Risk Legends) may be in luck. On 29 March 2023, the staff (Staff) of the Division of Investment Management of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued a statement (Statement) requesting that non-transparent ETFs use in such ads either (i) the text and formatting of their Exemptive Order Risk Legends; or (ii) the following text and formatting (with bold as shown and without bullets) (the Staff Risk Legend):
Read MoreBy Eden L. Rohrer and Jessica D. Cohn
On 29 March 2023, the federal exemption from securities broker registration for qualifying mergers and acquisitions brokers (M&A brokers) became effective. That exemption was signed into law on 29 December 2022 as a policy rider to the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023 (H.R. 2617) (the M&A Brokers Exemption) and was described in our previous blog post and client alert.
The M&A Brokers Exemption can now be found in subsection (13) “Registration Exemption for Merger and Acquisition Brokers” of Section 15(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.
Read MoreIn our last post, we suggested that managed accounts of whatever structure have become more and more popular among institutional investors. Our list included advantages of managed accounts often seen in print or discussed among panel participants in seminars. We did not, however, itemize all of the incentives motivating many institutional investors to prefer managed accounts over commingled funds. We’ll do so now to introduce and illuminate the reasons why and how conflicts of interest are created when fund managers manage separate client accounts alongside commingled funds. And, hopefully, give you some takeaways when managing your own investment management business.
Read MoreBy Matthew Watts and Rebecca Mangos
As the end of the 2023 financial year fast approaches, responsible entities and CCIV corporate directors should be reminded of their obligation to notify members by 30 June 2023 of their rights to elect and request to receive certain documents in physical or electronic form.
Read MoreBy Chloe Duan and Grace Ye
In 2016, the China Securities Regulatory Commission launched the wholly foreign-owned enterprise private fund manager (WFOE PFM) program to encourage foreign fund managers to make investments in China with money raised in China. With the launching of the first Qualified Domestic Limited Partner (QDLP) fund managed by a WFOE PFM in March 2023, foreign fund managers now have the choice to decide where to invest globally with the funds raised in China.
Read MoreBy Chloe Duan and Grace Ye
The China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) released a series of rules on reform of the regulatory regime for initial public offering (IPO) on Chinese stock exchanges (Reform). The Reform essentially expands the registration-based IPO regime (Registration Regime) to the main boards at the Shanghai Stock Exchange and the Shenzhen Stock Exchange.
Read MoreOn 15 March 2023, amendments to the EU Regulation on the European Long-Term Investment Fund (ELTIF) were published in the Official Journal of the European Union. They will apply from 10 January 2024.
Read MoreBy: Trayne S. Wheeler, Brian Doyle-Wenger, and Gustavo De La Cruz Reynozo,
On March 15, 2023, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) proposed amendments to Regulation S-P. The proposed amendments would require covered institutions to enhance protections of consumer information by requiring the adoption of written policies and procedures for an incident response program. The amendments would expand the scope of Regulation S-P by requiring covered institutions to provide timely notifications to individuals affected by data breaches and by extending the definition of the information covered by the regulation.
Read MoreBy Edward Bennett and Jordan Seah
The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), Singapore’s central bank and financial regulatory authority, is, amongst many other things, responsible for the development of Singapore as an international financial hub.
As part of its constant drive to uphold and improve the integrity of the nation’s financial ecosystem, the MAS issued a circular in early March 2023 to remind financial institutions (FIs) on the importance of staying vigilant to money laundering and terrorism financing (ML/TF) risk, including steps FIs may take to navigate ML/TF risk inherent in the wealth management sector, including private fund management.
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