Columbia Law School
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Water means life. More than half of our bodies consist of water, and it is an indispensable resource for production of food and other goods. It is fundamental for societies and ecosystems alike. While water covers approximately 70 percent of
Finance & Economics
New Department of Labor Investment Rules Could Be Big Win for Everyone but Labor
Few constituencies benefited more from the election of Joe Biden than the socially-responsible investor community, which saw the most-hostile presidential administration replaced by the most supportive.[1] The point is best illustrated by the departure of Labor Secretary Eugene Scalia, …
Sullivan & Cromwell Discusses Federal LIBOR Transition Legislation
On March 15, 2022, President Biden signed into law the “Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2022,” which enjoyed significant bipartisan support and contains, as Division U, the “Adjustable Interest Rate (LIBOR) Act” (the “LIBOR Act”).[1] The LIBOR Act provides a uniform …
Debevoise Discusses Russia, Sanctions, and Digital Assets
In response to ongoing Russian military action in Ukraine, U.S. authorities have imposed several tranches of new sanctions against Russia, particularly against Russia’s financial industry, including its major banks and the Central Bank of Russia. On February 26, President …
SPACs and PIPEs as Efficient Tools for Corporate Growth
A SPAC can be understood as an alternative to an IPO, with investors using a large investor, a PIPE, to find out whether the SPAC founder has really chosen a good target or is simply rushing to get a big …
How Firms’ Simultaneous Release of Information Affects Market Feedback
Can managers obtain more useful feedback from capital markets by disclosing pieces of information separately and at different times instead of bundling the information and releasing it at once? It is well known that capital markets’ response to firms’ announcements …
An Academic Critique of the SEC’s GameStop Report
On October 18, 2021, SEC staff released a long-awaited report on equity and options trading in connection with the meteoritic rise of GameStop’s share price in January 2021. The staff report addressed several issues surrounding the GameStop episode, but one …
Strategically Staying Small: Regulatory Avoidance and the Community Reinvestment Act
Banks operate in one of the nation’s most heavily regulated industries, where policy intervention aims for wide-ranging goals that include limiting risk, protecting consumers, and ensuring fair treatment of individuals through equal access to credit. The Community Reinvestment Act (CRA), …
The Breakdown of the Public–Private Divide in Securities Law
Securities law in the United States has traditionally been designed around a set of lines – the “public–private divide” – which separate public companies, public capital, and public markets from private companies, private capital, and private markets. Until the early …
ISS Reviews ESG Equity Indices in 2021
With some exceptions, 2021 was a generally strong year for equity markets around the world. Impressively, passive ESG products such as ETFs garnered significant inflows of over $150 billion dollars and saw asset under management growth of over 80% globally.
Fintech SPACs Have Been Swimming Naked – and the Tide Is Going Out
Acorns Grow Inc., the financial technology and investing startup, said last week that it was abandoning its $2.2 billion merger with SPAC Pioneer Merger Corp., putting itself on the hook for a $17.5 million termination fee. Coming almost eight months …
It’s Time to Regulate Stablecoins as Deposits and Require Their Issuers to Be FDIC-Insured Banks
In November 2021, the President’s Working Group on Financial Markets (PWG) issued a report analyzing the rapid expansion and growing risks of the stablecoin market.[1] Stablecoins are digital assets that claim to maintain a “stable” value with reference to …
Financing Sustainable Entrepreneurship
At least since BlackRock boss Larry Fink’s annual letter to CEOs in 2019, investing in ESG assets has become a major topic among both retail and institutional investors. In a new article, we address the question of how economically attractive …
How Rating Agencies’ Market Power Affects Credit Rating Standards
Global credit rating agencies (CRAs) like S&P and Moody’s are important gatekeepers for the debt market. The demand for their ratings has increased at an unprecedented rate in the past two decades due to an extraordinary growth in cross-border debt …
ISS Discusses Increase in Fund Flows for 2021
Back to normal doesn’t mean what it used to. Following a year like no other, demand came roaring out the gate in 2021. While the pace of new demand has slowed somewhat in recent months amidst concern of new COVID
Paul Weiss Discusses LIBOR Transition and SOFR Alternative
As previously reported, the LIBOR settings for one-week and two-month USD LIBOR tenors will cease being representative after December 31, 2021.[1] This cessation is expect to have less of an impact because these tenors are not as widely used
How Optimistic Earnings Forecasts Are Kept in Check
Consensus earnings estimates, prominently quoted at major media outlets such as CNBC, Bloomberg, and the Wall Street Journal, play an important role in capital markets by providing investors with a proxy for earnings expectations. The common belief is that they …
China Experiments with Cross-Border Payments of Central Bank Digital Currencies
According to the Financial Stability Board (FSB), there is a consensus among major economies, such as the G20, to enhance cross-border payments.[1] Providing faster, cheaper, and more transparent and inclusive cross-border payment services would be beneficial for citizens, businesses, …
Skadden Discusses SEC’s Final Amendments Under Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act
On December 2, 2021, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) adopted final amendments implementing the disclosure and submission requirements of the Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act (HFCA Act). In addition, the adopting release establishes the SEC’s procedures for (i) …
Offshore Activities and Corporate Tax Avoidance
Taxation of multinational companies (MNCs) has received increasing attention from politicians, the media, regulators, and academics. While the popular press provides considerable anecdotal evidence that large MNCs pay lower taxes than their domestic counterparts, academic research provides mixed evidence on …