Brett Hillis

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Firm/Organization: Reed Smith LLP
Blogs: Financial Regulatory Report, FinTech Update, Global Regulatory Enforcement Law Blog, Technology Law Dispatch

Latest Articles

The initial coin offerings (ICOs) regulatory map has begun to take shape with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA), the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), Singapore, Hong Kong, China and Australia offering their opinions on ICOs.  The FCA recently stated that ICOs are “very high-risk, speculative investments.”  The Dubai Financial Services Authority has also voiced that these products are high-risk. The People’s Bank of China has gone even further…
Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) and cryptocurrency have been a hot topic this summer.  DLT has begun its transition from a proof-of-concept phase, to a real world deployment. Some of the changes over the last six weeks include: Bitcoin splitting into two currencies; the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC), the Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA), and the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) began exercising authority over initial coin offerings (ICOs); China’s central bank has led a committee criticizing…
On August 3, 2017, the International Swaps and Derivatives Association (“ISDA”) released a whitepaper that considers whether derivative contracts could operate on a blockchain (the “Whitepaper”).[1]  The Whitepaper, titled “Smart Contracts and Distributed Ledger – A Legal Perspective,” concludes that many of the provisions of the ISDA Master Agreement and related documentation can be translated into conditional logic and coded into “smart contracts.”[2]  While we are still in the early days…
On August 3, 2017, the International Swaps and Derivatives Association (“ISDA”) released a whitepaper that considers whether derivative contracts could operate on a blockchain (the “Whitepaper”).[1]  The Whitepaper, titled “Smart Contracts and Distributed Ledger – A Legal Perspective,” concludes that many of the provisions of the ISDA Master Agreement and related documentation can be translated into conditional logic and coded into “smart contracts.”[2]  While we are still in the early days…
The UK FCA Publish Discussion Paper on Distributed Ledger Technology Regulators globally are focused on understanding industry consumers’ views on distributed ledger technology’s (DLT) potential risks and opportunities. On 10 April 2017, the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published a discussion paper DP17/3 on DLT, and followed it with a speech at the Innovate Finance Global Summit by the Executive Director of Strategy and Competition at the FCA, Christopher Woolard. The FCA’s Project Innovate is…
As a direct result of nuclear and ballistic weapons tests conducted by the Democratic Peoples’ Republic of North Korea earlier this year, the United Nations, the European Union and the United States imposed increased sanctions against the country.  These new restrictions affect various industries, including minerals, energy, shipping, banking, finance, and aviation. In keeping with Reed Smith’s continued efforts to keep clients abreast of the latest global developments in sanctions enforcement, the firm recently issued…
Reed Smith has been closely monitoring developments in U.S.-Cuba relations.  With President Obama’s historic visit to Cuba in the books, we invite you to take a closer look at some recent amendments that were made to Cuban Assets Control Regulations (CACR) and Export Administration Regulations (EAR).  These changes provide significant benefits in the travel, shipping, finance, humanitarian and educational sectors. For more information on this topic, please click here.…
18 October 2015, marked ‘Adoption Day’ for the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).  The JCPOA was agreed upon 90 days earlier, between the United States, Russia, China, the United Kingdom, France, and Germany, together with Iran.  While the latest measures taken by the EU, the United States and Iran make the necessary legal preparations for sanctions to be lifted, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) will need to verify that Iran has met its…
This post was also written by Georgia Quenby. The EMEA Determinations Committee of the International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA) met on Friday last week (9 March) to discuss the Greek debt swap deal and to determine whether the deal amounts to a “Restructuring Credit Event”, thus triggering settlement under credit default swaps (CDS) referencing the Greek sovereign. The Determinations Committee decided that a “Restructuring Credit Event” has occurred. For a more detailed analysis, please…