Sky Blog
In recent years, regulators and other proponents of greater corporate attention to environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors have treated boards of directors as, in effect, supplying ESG, making the decisions that take ESG into account. Yet there are obvious …
On December 20, 2023, the UK Financial Conduct Authority (“FCA”) published a detailed consultation paper proposing major reforms to the UK listing regime with particularly significant implications for listings of equity shares in commercial companies. The reforms are broadly consistent …
On December 14, 2023, Congress passed the Foreign Extortion Prevention Act (“FEPA”) as a component of the annual National Defense Authorization Act to criminally prosecute foreign officials who seek or receive bribes from U.S. persons or businesses. President Biden is …
On December 8, 2023, the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) and Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published a joint consultation paper titled ”CP26/23 – Operational resilience: Critical third parties to the UK financial sector.” The consultation includes draft PRA and Bank of …
On December 8, 2023, after months of negotiations, the European Commission, the European Parliament and the European Council reached political agreement on the terms of the European Union Artificial Intelligence Act (the “EU AI Act” or the “Act”). We previously …
In the global effort to protect the earth’s climate, the pace of regulation is rivaled only by the speed of technological innovation.
What seemed improbable just a few years ago – requiring large companies to measure and report annual greenhouse …
On November 20, 2023, the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) announced proposed reforms to its in-depth merger control review process (the phase 2 review) that seek to provide more opportunities for engagement with decision makers and incentivise parties to …
The U.K. Government published its updated Green Finance Strategy in March 2023. Comprehensive in nature, the Strategy articulates the U.K.’s ambition to become a world leader in the realm of sustainable finance and to retain the country’s status as a …
On October 27, 2023, the UK’s Panel on Takeovers and Mergers (the “Panel”) published the results of a consultation started in May 2023 to review the City Code on Takeovers and Mergers (the “Code”), together with …
A large number of companies globally have announced net zero greenhouse gas (“GHG”) emissions targets, most of which are likely to require some form of carbon offsetting. Many consumers are also interested in offsetting their carbon footprint. The development of …
On October 12, 2023, the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) issued its final Green Agreements Guidance (Guidance). The Guidance is designed to help businesses seeking to collaborate on environmental sustainability initiatives by providing greater clarity on when UK competition …
The January 2023 report ESG Performance and Enterprise Value: Do Firms with Stronger ESG Performance Have Higher Valuation Ratios? investigated the relationship between the ISS ESG Performance Score (a normalized version of the ISS ESG Corporate Rating) and two …
To regulate artificial intelligence, or AI, it is important to look at the various, and often contradictory, settings where AI operates – and how it is treated there. For example, data privacy generally and in particular open banking, in which …
In response to extreme weather events, regulators and standard setters are developing climate-related reporting requirements and standards. The thinking behind making disclosure of firms’ climate-related risks mandatory is that it will allow the market to price these risks, thereby using …
Initial public offerings (IPOs) play a vital role in facilitating capital formation and wealth distribution within an economy. The decline and low number of U.S. IPOs over the past 25 years have raised concerns among entrepreneurs, investors, and policymakers. The …
Financial globalization has allowed issuers more freedom to shop among jurisdictions and thus intensified stock market competition. Against this backdrop, the Hong Kong, Singapore, China, and UK stock markets have accepted the dual-class share structure (DCSS). While empirical legal studies …
On October 10, 2023, the Financial Stability Board (the “FSB”) published a report (the “FSB Report”)[1] that examined the international resolution framework as applicable to global systemically important banks (“G-SIBs”). In its examination, the FSB Report stated that the …
In contrast to class actions in the United States, the general principle in litigation abroad is that the loser pays the winner’s costs. This concept is known as “adverse costs,” and the risk of paying these costs can be daunting …
The interplay between sovereign debt defaults and legal frameworks has long been a subject of scholarly discourse and practical concern. Navigating this labyrinthine arena necessitates a rigorous understanding of various legal paradigms, one of which is trust law. In a …
Geopolitical tensions and strategic competition between the United States and China have increasingly influenced the investment landscape in recent years, implicating established regulatory frameworks such as that of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (“CFIUS”), as well …