Assessing Risks and Potential Liability in Responding to a Crisis
Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP Blogs
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A Hint of Brandeis: Proposed Amendments to the German Transparency Register
I. The Transparency Register – A Recap
The 4th EU-Money-Laundering Directive (2015/849), which entered into force in mid-2015, required national legislators of EU Member States to establish, in each jurisdiction, a register for information on the beneficial owners of companies and other undertakings located in such jurisdictions (“Transparency Register”). Echoing Justice Louis D. Brandeis’ famous metaphor of publicity as a remedy for social and industrial diseases, the Directive states that information on the beneficial ownership…
Data Transfer Mechanisms to be Reviewed by CJEU After Irish Supreme Court Dismisses Facebook Appeal
On 31 May 2019, the Supreme Court of Ireland dismissed Facebook’s appeal of the Irish High Court decision to refer questions regarding, among other things, the adequacy of the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield and the European Commission’s Standard Contractual Clauses to the Court of Justice of the EU (the “CJEU”). The CJEU will hear the case (C-311/18) on 9 July 2019.…
Changes to Deferred Compensation in Germany
On January 1, 2019, the German Act on the Strengthening of Company Pensions (Betriebsrentenstärkungsgesetz) leading to an amendment of the German Company Pensions Act (Betriebsrentengesetz), including its provisions regarding deferred compensation (Entgeltumwandlung), entered fully into force.
Deferred Compensation
Under the German Company Pensions Act, each employee is generally entitled to request from the employer that a certain part of the employee’s gross salary (up to an amount equal to 4% of the social security contribution ceiling…
Cuba Sanctions Tighten: OFAC Limits Cuba Travel
Today, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) and the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) each announced changes to the Cuba sanctions rules. OFAC is amending the Cuban Assets Control Regulations (CACR) to end group educational or cultural visits referred to as “people-to-people” educational travel, one of the major categories permitting non-family travel to Cuba. People-to-people educational travel that was previously authorized will be allowed…
China to Establish “Unreliable Entity List” in Response to “Unilateralism and Trade Protectionism”
China’s Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) announced at a special press conference on May 31 that it will institute an “Unreliable Entity List” system based on China’s Foreign Trade Law, Anti-Monopoly Law, and National Security Law. The planned “Unreliable Entity List” will include foreign companies, organizations, and individuals that do not obey market rules, act contrary to the spirit of contract, engage in boycott or suspension of supply against Chinese enterprises without commercial justifications, or seriously…
SEC and CFTC Chairs Sign Enhanced Multilateral Memorandum of Understanding Expanding Cross-Border Enforcement Cooperation
On May 15, 2019, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) and the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) announced that they entered into an Enhanced Multilateral Memorandum of Understanding Concerning Consultation and the Exchange of Information (“Enhanced MMoU”) under the auspices of the International Organization of Securities Commissions (“IOSCO”), along with nine other international financial regulators.[1] Both the SEC and CFTC are already signatories to IOSCO’s predecessor memorandum of understanding with 121…
FTC Commissioners Continue Calls for National Data Privacy and Security Legislation
On May 8, 2019, Commissioners from Federal Trade Commission repeated their calls for federal data privacy legislation enforceable by the FTC at a hearing by the House Committee on Energy & Commerce titled “Oversight of the Federal Trade Commission: Strengthening Protections for Americans’ Privacy and Data Security.”…
FINRA Publishes AML Red Flags to Help Broker-Dealers Satisfy Suspicious Activity Monitoring and Reporting Requirements
On May 6, 2019, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”) issued Regulatory Notice 19-18, addressing members’[1] anti-money laundering (“AML”) compliance programs. This notice focused extensively on members’ monitoring for suspicious activities and subsequent suspicious activity report (“SAR”) filing obligations, providing 97 examples of “money laundering red flags” to securities industry market participants. Where applicable to a members’ business operations, FINRA encouraged broker-dealers to take a “risk-based approach” to AML compliance and incorporate these…
SEC Privacy Risk Alert may Foreshadow Upcoming Reg S-P Enforcement Against Broker-Dealers, Investment Advisers
On April 16, 2019, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (“SEC”) Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations (“OCIE”) issued a Risk Alert addressing all registered broker-dealers and investment advisers’ (together, “Firms”)[1] privacy-related obligations under Regulation S-P (“Reg S-P”). The Risk Alert set out the most frequent Reg S-P deficiencies OCIE identified during examinations over the past two years, and encouraged registrants to review their written privacy policies and procedures as well as the consistency…