Global Investment Law Watch – Page 27 – Exploring the legal and regulatory issues affecting the worldwide investment community.

JAPAN: Proposed Code of Conduct for ESG Evaluation and Data Providers Presents Significant Implications for Asset Management and Investor Communities

Aug 05 2022

On 12 July 2022, as widely anticipated, the Financial Services Agency of Japan (“FSA”) proposed “the Code of Conduct for ESG Evaluation and Data Providers” (“Proposed Code”), and is soliciting comments from the public until 5 September 2022.

The stated focus of the Proposed Code is to provide a set of principles and guidelines for ESG evaluation and data providers (“Provider(s)”) that would require Providers who decide to endorse such code to “comply or explain” such code, i.e., a Provider would be required to comply with, or provide an explanation as to why the Provider is departing from, such code.

United States: SEC vs. Wahi: An Insider Trading Action with Surprising Impacts on the Investment Management Industry

Aug 02 2022

By: Richard F. Kerr and Keri E. Riemer

The SEC has made a new crypto move – and its impact is broad.

As described in our FinTech Law Watch blog published on 29 July 2022, the SEC recently declared that 9 crypto assets were “securities” in a complaint relating to insider trading violations (Wahi Complaint).

Australia: DDO Implementation and Enforcement

Aug 01 2022

By Daniel Knight and Simon Kiburg

ASIC have announced the first enforcement action it has taken in relation to the Design and Distribution Obligations (DDO), which were introduced late last year. The enforcement action shows that, as described by ASIC deputy chair Karen Chester, “ASIC’s focus has now shifted to compliance. Industry has had sufficient time to bed down its implementation of the DDO regime.“

AUSTRALIA: SUPERANNUATION FUND INVESTMENTS – ESG AND VALUATIONS

Jul 28 2022

By Jim Bulling and Hugo Chow

The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) has released its final revisions to Prudential Standard SPS 530 Investment Governance (SPS 530).

The more significant amendments are in relation to valuation governance, proposed guidance for environmental, social and governance (ESG) risk management and some new issues for stress testing programs.

United States: SEC Proposes Amendments to Shareholder Proposal Rule

Jul 22 2022

By: Jon-Luc Dupuy and Keri Riemer

On 13 July 2022, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) proposed new amendments to Rule 14a-8 under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the “Shareholder Proposal Rule”).

United States: SEC Rescinds Conditions to Proxy Voting Advice Exemptions

Jul 22 2022

By: Jon-Luc Dupuy and Keri Riemer

Update: On 28 July, 2022, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Business Roundtable and the Tennessee Chamber of Commerce & Industry sued the SEC, claiming that it did not follow proper procedures under the Administrative Procedure Act or provide adequate justification for its decision to repeal the exemption conditions described below.

On 13 July 2022, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) repealed certain aspects of its 2020 reforms for proxy voting advice businesses (“PVABs”).

AUSTRALIA: CRYPTO DOWNTURN AND ITS REGULATION

Jul 11 2022

By Daniel Knight and Kithmin Ranamukhaarachchi

In the wake of the drawn out cryptocurrency market downturn, increased regulation of the sector seems inevitable. With nearly one million Australians transacting in cryptocurrencies last year, there have been widespread calls to enact additional protections for retail investors.

Europe: Systemically important outsourced service providers, eg cloud services, to be identified and regulated in the UK

Jul 08 2022

By: Kai Zhang

In an 8 June 2022 policy statement, the UK Government proposes a specific regime for supervising “critical” service providers to the financial services industry. This is to address concentration risk as many regulated firms rely on a few large service providers whose failure could potentially threaten the stability of, or confidence in, the UK’s financial system. The Government observes that in 2020 over 65% of UK regulated firms used the same four cloud providers for cloud infrastructure services.

United States: Grayscale Appeals to DC Circuit on SEC Denial of Bitcoin ETP

Jul 05 2022

By: Stacy L. Fuller, Clifford C. Histed, Cheryl L. Isaac, Richard F. Kerr, Keri E. Riemer, and Peter J. Shea

On Thursday, Grayscale Investments, LLC (Grayscale) filed suit against the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) in the D.C. Circuit asking the court to reconsider the agency’s rejection of listing a spot Bitcoin ETP on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). In its appeal, Grayscale argued that the SEC’s ruling regarding its spot Bitcoin ETP was “arbitrary and capricious,” because it disregarded facts about the ETP and erroneously determined that listing the ETP would be in contravention of NYSE’s duties under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.

Australia: BNPL: Credit or not?

Jul 04 2022

By Daniel Knight and Alex Morrison

The Minister for Financial Services, Stephen Jones, has said that the Government intends to regulate Buy Now Pay Later Products (BNPL Products) and stop the “argument about whether [they’re] credit or not”.