The CFTC’s recent enforcement against Bitfinex’s financed trading activities demonstrates the Commission’s increasing interest in virtual currency and digital assets. The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is further expanding its oversight of virtual currency exchanges and digital assets in general. On June 2, 2016, Bitfinex (a Hong Kong-based bitcoin…
International investors have frequently used Mauritius holding companies for their Indian investments, seeking to take advantage of the exemption under the India-Mauritius income tax treaty (the “Mauritius Treaty”) from Indian capital gains tax generally applicable on the disposition of shares of Indian companies. On May 10, 2016, the Governments of…
President Obama signed into law the SBIC Advisers Relief Act (as part of the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act of 2015—the FAST Act) on December 4, 2015. (See also our Annual Compliance Alert) After the enactment of the Dodd-Frank Act, advisers to Small Business Investment Companies (SBICs) were limited in…
The Cayman Islands Tax Information Authority advised yesterday that it will allow Cayman Islands Financial Institutions to rely on CRS due diligence procedures for new accounts opened on or after 1 January 2016 to identify specified/reportable persons for the purposes of UK FATCA and CRS reporting. This means that, provided…
Yesterday, Pillsbury hosted the first Fintech Roundtable of 2016, a series of risk management and regulatory compliance roundtables for fintech companies. Senior Managers from Prosper, SigFig and FundingCircle discussed the market and technology challenges they face (including cybersecurity risk) and approaches they have adopted. Pillsbury partnered with the Professional Risk…
The ERISA Advisory Council recently announced that, as part of its goals for 2016, it will be focusing on cybersecurity issues affecting retirement plans and, in particular, the extent to which such issues relate to third-party administrators and vendors (TPAs) of retirement plans. By shining the spotlight on the role…
A group of related private equity (“PE”) funds were found liable for a bankrupt portfolio company’s pension plan debts in the latest and most worrisome decision in the long-running Sun Capital Partners III, LP v. New England Teamsters and Trucking Industry Pension Fund dispute. The novel decision, if upheld on…
Earlier this month, the SEC announced the creation of its Office of Risk and Strategy to operate within its Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations (OCIE). The new office will consolidate and streamline OCIE’s risk assessment, market surveillance, and quantitative analysis teams and provide operational risk management and organizational strategy…
In February, California State Treasurer, John Chiang along with State Assemblyman Ken Cooley sponsored Assembly Bill (AB) 2833 which, if enacted, would require private equity firms to disclose fees and expenses for public pensions or retirement systems in California. On March 17, 2016 Assemblyman Cooley submitted an amendment to the…
The CFTC has approved a final rule that removes reporting and recordkeeping requirements for trade option counterparties that are neither swap dealers nor major swap participants (Non-SD/MSPs). The removal of the reporting requirements also applies to commercial end users transacting in trade options connected to their business. Regarding the reporting…