By Chloe Duan and Grace Ye
The China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) released the Administrative Measures for Network and Information Security in Securities and Futures Sectors (Measures) on 27 February 2023, which will become effective on 1 May 2023.
Read MoreBy Kane Barnett and Bernard Sia
The Australian Government has provided further details of the previously announced review of the managed investment schemes (MIS) regulatory framework (Review). The Review was announced in the 2022-23 Federal budget, and with $2.7 million committed, is intended to test the effectiveness of the current framework.
Read MoreBy Matthew Watts, Rebecca Mangos and Bernard Sia
For the first time, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has launched court action against a major superannuation trustee for allegedly making misleading statements about the sustainable nature and characteristics of some of its investment products (known as “greenwashing”). ASIC claims the corporate pension fund misled consumers by investing in companies involved with the alcohol, gambling and fossil fuel sectors, contrary to the fund’s marketed sustainable and ethical credentials.
Read MoreBy Grace Ye and Chloe Duan
China has promulgated a series of laws and regulations governing data protection, in particular data export in past years.
The People’s Republic of China (PRC) law currently provides three routes for data export, i.e., (1) Cybersecurity Administration of China (CAC) assessment, (2) certification (by professional institutions), and (3) standard contractual clauses (SCC). Depending on the nature and volume of data to be exported and the identity of the exporter, the exporter must pick at least one route in order to export data.
Read MoreOver the last 20 years, managed accounts have become increasingly popular. A managed account is a portfolio of securities managed by a single manager on behalf of a single investor. These special arrangements are especially popular among institutional investor seeking:
In a recent decision of 14 February 2023, the Federal Fiscal Court (Bundesfinanzhof, BFH), the highest German tax court, has ruled that privately held cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH) and Monero (XMR) are – notwithstanding the fact that there are no physical goods in which a traditional form of legal ownership can be established – taxable assets for German income tax purposes. As a consequence, any gains from their acquisition (against fiat currency or otherwise) and sale (or exchange) within a one-year period will be taxable (at the owner’s personal tax rate); if, however, the relevant cryptocurrency has been held for more than one year, any gains will be tax exempt. For these purposes, the holder of the “private key” will be considered as legal owner of the cryptocurrency. The tax treatment of a realization of an increase in value of cryptocurrencies is therefore, in Germany, substantially the same as for fiat currency.
Version 1 of the European Long-Term Investment Fund (ELTIF) has not been a huge success story with only a few relatively small funds launched to date. However the development of a well-supported fund structure for retail investors to invest in illiquid long-term assets remains a key priority for EU legislators.
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