Corporate Finance

EU General Court dismisses first two challenges to State aid awarded to national airlines in response to the COVID-19 pandemic

By Johan Ysewyn, Sophie Bertin & Aidan Forde

March 1, 2021

On 17 February 2021, the General Court of the European Union (“General Court”) in Cases T-259/20 and T-238/20 dismissed Ryanair’s challenges to pandemic aid packages introduced in France and Sweden in order to support the domestic airline sector. The judgments are the first ones where the General Court has decided on the legality of the State aid schemes adopted in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.…

Money Laundering Watch

FinCEN Warns Financial Institutions About Economic Stimulus Aid Scams

By Peter D. Hardy

February 28, 2021

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The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”) issued on February 24, 2021 “an [A]dvisory to alert financial institutions to fraud and other financial crimes related to Economic Impact Payments (EIPs), authorized by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, and the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2021.” The Advisory describes EIP fraud, associated red flags, and information on filing related Suspicious Activity Reports (“SARs”). Once again, something intended for good –…

Money Laundering Watch

New PPP Procedural Requirements Reflect Lenders’ Emerging AML Duties

By Terence M. Grugan

February 25, 2021

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The Small Business Administration (“SBA”) recently issued a procedural notice (the “Notice”) to “All SBA Employees and Paycheck Protection Program Lenders” setting forth “Revised SBA Paycheck Protection Platform Procedures for Addressing Hold Codes on First Draw PPP Loans and Compliance Check Error Messages on First Draw PPP Loans and Second Draw PPP Loans.” The Notice sets forth procedures Paycheck Protection Program (“PPP”) lenders must follow in approving First or Second Draw PPP loans under the…

Structured Finance In Brief

2021: a critical year for LIBOR transition in India

By Claude Brown, Nathan Menon & Georgia Crossman

February 25, 2021

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Read time: 4 minutes 50 seconds As well as ringing in the start of a hopefully brighter and better 2021, January also saw Indian banks testing the waters of LIBOR transition, with State Bank of India and ICICI Bank involved in their first alternative risk free rate transactions. Utilising the US dollar Secured Overnight Financing Rate (SOFR), these deals signal that the Indian market is at last receptive to the prospect of LIBOR transition, having…

Timely disclosure

Additional Proficiency Options for Distributing Alternative Mutual Funds

By Élise Renaud, François Brais & Jean-Philippe Joyal

February 24, 2021

On January 3, 2019, the final phase of the Canadian Securities Administrators (“CSA”)’s Modernization of Investment Fund Product Regulation Project relating to the establishment of a regulatory framework for alternative mutual funds came into effect. These amendments introduced a new category of mutual funds, “alternative mutual funds”, which are mutual funds that have adopted investment objectives that permit those funds to invest in physical commodities or specified derivatives, borrow cash or engage in short selling…

Timely disclosure

Nouvelles options de formation pour les OPC alternatifs

By Élise Renaud, François Brais & Jean-Philippe Joyal

February 24, 2021

Le 3 janvier 2019, la dernière étape du projet de modernisation de la réglementation des produits de fonds d’investissement des Autorités canadiennes en valeurs mobilières (les « ACVM ») concernant l’établissement d’un encadrement réglementaire des organismes de placement collectif est entrée en vigueur. Ces modifications ont introduit une nouvelle catégorie d’organismes de placement (ci-après, les « OPC »), soit les « OPC alternatifs », une expression qui désigne les OPC qui ont adopté des objectifs de placement leur permettant d’investir dans des…

Securities Law Exchange

Reporting of COVID-19 Impact in Financial Disclosures in WSJ Article

By Jay Knight

February 23, 2021

I was quoted in an article published by The Wall Street Journal examining how companies are reporting the financial impact of COVID-19 in disclosures. Regulating bodies have warned they will be closely monitoring disclosures this year to ensure companies are not misleading investors about the true positive and negative financial effects of the pandemic. According to data provided in the article, only one in 10 of the companies that reported an adjusted figure for EBITDA…

LIBOR Transition Blog

A Market Divided: EURIBOR Consultation Shows a Divide Among Market Participants

By Jennifer J. Kafcas, Alvino S. van Schalkwyk, Lauren J. Blaber & Harry Poland

February 23, 2021

On November 20, 2020, the working group on euro risk-free rates (the Euro Working Group) published two consultations on fallback rates to EURIBOR. Market participants were invited to provide their views on the potential events that could trigger fallback measures and the fallback rates based on the euro short-term rate (€STR) and spread adjustment methodologies. The results of the consultations show that market participants are not in agreement on all matters relating to transitioning from…

Money Laundering Watch

OSHA to Investigate Retaliation Complaints Under Money Laundering and Criminal Antitrust Laws

By Louis L. Chodoff, Meredith S. Dante & Juliana van Hoeven

February 22, 2021

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The Occupational Health and Safety Administration (“OSHA”) now will investigate workers’ complaints of retaliation for reporting alleged money laundering and antitrust-related violations under new whistleblower statutes. On February 19, 2021, the Department of Labor announced that OSHA would oversee whistleblower claims alleging retaliation under two laws – the Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2020 (“AMLA”) and the Criminal Antitrust Anti-Retaliation Act. Under the AMLA, OSHA will investigate individual whistleblowers’ retaliation complaints for reporting money laundering-related…

Broker- Dealer Law Corner

Trends In Market Manipulation

By Blaine Doyle

February 22, 2021

Thanks to Blaine for not only attending this panel session, but for summarizing it for us! – Alan Recently, the Roaring Kitty (aka Keith Gill) and his brethren made headlines with their trading (most notably in GameStop) and the impact it had on certain hedge funds and banks. The interest on this saga seems to be universal with folks wanting to know whether or not these trader/customers were doing anything wrong and if there were…