Sky Blog
The world of startups often appears to embody the exceptionalism of modern finance, with funds swiftly flowing to the best teams and ideas wherever they may emerge. The reality, however, is much more complicated. Financing startups remains a daunting challenge …
In the past few years, the economies of developing countries and emerging markets have been upended by the once-in-a-century COVID-19 pandemic and the fallout from the war in Ukraine. As a result, these economies have suffered from a array of …
Environmental and social (E&S) considerations have become integral to investment decisions in the past two decades, and more public firms are making E&S disclosures. Meanwhile, dozens of ESG reporting frameworks have emerged, and many jurisdictions have issued or are in …
How do the corporate laws of Global South jurisdictions differ from their Global North counterparts? Prevailing stereotypes depict the corporate laws of developing countries as either antiquated, mere copies of Global North models or plagued by problems of enforcement. While …
In recent years, integrity oaths have gained popularity as a tool to reinforce ethical behavior among executives and professionals. However, little is known about the impact of these oaths on firms’ financial reporting quality. We answer this question using data …
The European Union and U.K. are establishing comprehensive regimes for the regulation of cryptoassets. The Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) was published in the Official Journal of the European Union on June 9, 2023, and will come into force on …
The recent banking turmoil in the U.S. and Europe has led to calls for greater accountability for bank executives. These include an extraordinary statement from President Joe Biden on the need to hold senior executives accountable for bank failures. Similar …
On April 19, 2023, the Supreme Court removed two key potential obstacles to the criminal prosecution of foreign states and their agencies and instrumentalities in U.S. courts. In Turkiye Halk Bankasi A.S. v. United States, 598 U.S. __ (2023), …
Financial markets and securities regulation in the European Union and the United States are converging in an increasing number of areas, from the repression of market manipulation to the provision of stricter requirements for market gatekeepers, such as auditing firms …
Credit Suisse (CS) was sold to UBS on March 19, 2023, to avoid its further deterioration from long-lasting distress and widespread distrust, especially after the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank. The most contentious point of the deal may have been …
Over the past several years, the use of non-disclosure agreements (“NDAs”) has received significant public scrutiny following their controversial use in a number of high profile harassment claims.[1]
NDAs were back in the headlines earlier this year following the …
A key principle of Chapter 11 corporate reorganizations is the “absolute priority rule.” It requires that the claims of a dissenting class of creditors be paid in full before any stakeholders in a class junior to such dissenting …
How do firms allocate their spending on philanthropic causes or other socially beneficial activities? With 94 percent of large U.S. companies committed to charitable giving and some investors increasingly willing to forego financial returns to advance such activities, this is …
Since the international Paris Agreement on climate change was adopted in 2015, there has been a massive upsurge in corporate net zero pledges. In our new article, we explored the climate commitments of large Australian companies. We wanted to …
Almost everyone seems to be talking about ChatGPT. This new AI-enabled chatbot, which can swiftly produce answers that feel as if a human wrote them, promises to revolutionize how we generate text. Although ChatGPT emerged just a few months ago, …
The rationale behind a number of recent EU legislation changes focusing on corporate governance has been to prioritise a long-term focus on governance through various transparency measures as well as some concrete requirements for action, and on allowing shareholders and …
In a potentially precedent-setting case, 11 directors of global energy company Shell Plc (formerly Royal Dutch Shell Plc) [1] are being sued in their personal capacity over the company’s energy transition strategy. The claim, which has been filed in the …
Much of the debate about activist shareholders is informed by experience in Northern Hemisphere markets, particularly the United States. In my recently published book, I examine the topic from an Australian perspective.
Australia is ideal for exploring shareholder activism for …
The steady growth of sustainable finance in recent years poses difficult questions on how regulators should approach it. In the European Union (EU), for example, there has been an explosion of new rules aimed at addressing a broad array of …