Politicising US capital markets is bad public policy
There is a movement afoot in state legislatures and in our nation’s capital to impose capital market sanctions on companies doing business in countries such as Sudan and Iran.
Foreclosure rescue scams: how to avoid getting caught?
The housing market has a huge impact on the vitality of our economy. Among other important benefits, there is growing evidence that homeownership stabilises communities and contributes to lower crime rates and better school scores for children.
Corporate Social Responsibility
Recent years have witnessed increasing importance on corporate social responsibility, especially as concerns about climate change are becoming mainstream.
Chasing Daylight - an intimate and moving farewell
It was a regular spring afternoon in 2005, but Gene O’Kelly, CEO of KPMG, had just been dealt a forecast that would shift the tide of his life indefinitely.
European stock exchanges on proposed EU shareholders rights
The main impediments to the efficiency of the voting process have been already clearly identified and will be removed by the transposition of the Directive on the exercise of certain rights of shareholders in listed companies.
For this reason, Federation of European Stock Exchange (FESE) is convinced that most of the subjects that are part of the current consultation should not be addressed at the EU level but rather left to Member States’ private law framework, contractual agreements between the parties involved and codes of best practice.
With this response, FESE provide the Commission with our viewpoints on the language of meetings documents, depositary receipts, stock lending, chain of intermediaries, and Management companies of investment schemes.
Language of meeting documents
FESE is strongly against any legislative initiative on the language in which General Meeting (GM) related documents are submitted.
We are convinced that listed companies should be granted the maximum flexibility when deciding whether to publish GM related document in a different language.
The decision concerning a specific language regime should be either left to self regulation by issuers or to the assessment of the market forces.
In any case, should a recommendation be endorsed, we would welcome the proposal to leave the decision concerning the language of meeting documents to the GM; this would fully address the problem.
Depositary Receipts
FESE supports the idea that there should be some sort of informed consent by holders of Depositary Receipts (DRs) as to how the depositary votes the underlying shares; however, we have concerns over the enforceability of such a proposal.
For example, the DRs might be issued outside the EEA, even if the underlying company is within the EEA.
In addition, the voting rights of the DR are set out in the terms and conditions (i.e. the buyer of the DR knows at the time of purchase whether or not this includes voting rights).
Stock Lending
We are against any EU regulation of stock lending. This practice is to be considered as part of the contractual agreement between two parties and therefore falls under the sphere of private law.
The treatment of this practice should be left to market forces (e.g. industry, RMs and their competent authorities).
The introduction of regulatory measures could interfere with its extremely useful applications such as improving and maintaining market liquidity, allowing market operators and asset managers to run short positions and reducing the risk of failed trades.
Chain of Intermediaries
The deficient functioning of the chain of intermediaries is one of the major obstacles to efficient cross-border voting. In order to take informed decisions, the end investor should always receive the relevant information in a timely manner.
European reforms: A window of opportunity for businesses
Europe and the European Union are critical to the success of the British economy. In sheer trading terms, the single market is by far the UK’s biggest trading partner.
Finance Bill 2007: The two unwelcome proposed reforms
The majority of the changes proposed in the Finance Bill for Venture Capital Trusts (VCTs) are welcome. Despite the overall positive impact of the changes, two of the proposed reforms are unwelcome.
Richard Rooke’s view of the legal aspects of Spanish property purchase, tax obligations and inheritance tax
All too often one hears, or reads in the press, that some unfortunate individual has lost his life savings whilst endeavouring to purchase a property in Spain, and his dreams of retiring to sunny Mediterranean shores have been shattered by some unscrupulous rogue.
Nevis: An Ideal Jurisdiction for International Financial Services
Nevis was one of the first jurisdictions in the Eastern Caribbean to appreciate the benefits of diversifying its economy with the introduction of international financial services. In 1984, the Nevis Island Government initiated various measures aimed at establishing its financial services industry and providing investment and business opportunities to international investors.
Security Law In The UAE (Overview)
The United Arab Emirates is a civil law country and therefore its laws are generally completely codified. The UAE legal system is based to a large extent on the French and