Global Investment Law Watch – Page 21 – Exploring the legal and regulatory issues affecting the worldwide investment community.

United States: Goodbye M&A Brokers No Action Letter, Hello Federal Exemption

Mar 30 2023

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.

APAC: Managed Accounts and Conflicts—Part 2: Managed Accounts vs. Commingled Funds

Mar 29 2023

By Scott Peterman

In 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.

Australia: Registered scheme and CCIV compliance: Obligation to give notice of members’ rights

Mar 28 2023

By 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.

People’s Republic of China: First QDLP Managed by WFOE PFM Launched in Shanghai

Mar 27 2023

By 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.

People’s Republic of China: CSRC Expanding Registration Based IPO Regime

Mar 27 2023

By 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.

Europe: ELTIF 2.0 Has Been Published

Mar 21 2023

By Philipp Riedl

On 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.

United States: SEC Proposes Amendments to Broaden the Scope of Regulation S-P in Response to Digital Communications and Risks to Customer Personal Information

Mar 17 2023

By: 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.

Singapore: Financial Institution Guidance to Enhance Vigilance Over Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing

Mar 16 2023

By 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.

People’s Republic of China: CSRC Released New Cybersecurity and Data Privacy Rules for Securities and Futures Institutions

Mar 13 2023

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.

Australia: Further Details of Proposed Review of Managed Investment Schemes Announced

Mar 10 2023

By 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.