Chapter News, News

Speaking of the Euro…

EU Member States continue to line up to join the euro area, despite the economic crisis. Latvia aims to join in January 2014, and Lithuania is also preparing to adopt the euro. For an EU Member State to become part of the euro area, it must meet five economic convergence criteria, known as the Maastricht criteria. These targets deal with price stability, sound and sustainable public finances, exchange rate stability, and long-term interest rates that remain in close proximity with...

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Chapter News, News

European Commission Proposes Negotiation Mandate for EU-U.S. Trade Talks

Today, the European Commission recommended to the Council to authorize the launch of negotiations on a Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership between the European Union and the United States. "I am very pleased that just one month after the announcement by the EU and the U.S. to go for this 'game-changing' trade deal, the European Commission is ready with a proposed mandate for the future negotiations," said EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht. "We can now roll up our sleeves up...

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Chapter News, News

Economic Literacy Thrives With Euro Challenge Participants

For the eighth consecutive year, teams of high school students around the U.S. are competing with peers at regional and national levels, responding to questions about the European economy and the euro. Today marks the start of the 2013 preliminary rounds of the Euro Challenge, one of the EU Delegation's flagship education programs. What is the Euro Challenge? The Euro Challenge is an exciting educational opportunity for high school students to learn about the European Union (EU) and the euro. Student...

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Member News, News

Entrepreneurship Funding & Resources in Germany

EACC New York Member "The German Center for Research and Innovation (GCRI)" is proud to announce the launch of its new web page, Entrepreneurship Funding & Resources, on https://www.germaninnovation.org/resources/entrepreneurship-funding. The GCRI’s web presence is an information platform for individuals who are interested in the German science and innovation landscape and wish to conduct research or business in Germany. The “Funding & Research” section of the website provides information about the wide variety of funding opportunities for entrepreneurs at both the...

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Member News, News

Irish Funds Industry Association: North American Fund Industry Seminars Series

The Irish Funds Industry Association (the “IFIA”) will be hosting a series of North American Fund Industry Seminars in Chicago, Boston and New York in March. EACC New York Member Mason Hayes & Curran also a member of the IFIA is participating at the program. Head of Investment Funds at Mason Hayes & Curran, Fionán Breathnach, will be a panelist at the Boston Seminar on “The Future of the Fund Industry in Europe” which will discuss...

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Member News, News

Find it in France: The WEF’s Top Ten Emerging Technologies in 2013

The World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Emerging Technologies has identified the 10 most promising technology trends to help deliver sustainable growth in the decades to come, as global population and material demands on the environment continue to grow rapidly. The Global Agenda Council considers that these technologies – which can be categorized under nano- and bio-technologies, environmental sciences, health and energy – have made significant development breakthroughs and are nearing large-scale deployment. With such promising technologies that could...

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Member News, News

“Paris: Digital Capital”: call for contributions

The “Paris: Digital Capital” project announced by the French government in October 2012 is now entering a new phase. The goal set by the Minister Delegate with responsibility for SMEs, Innovation and the Digital Economy, Ms. Fleur Pellerin, who is responsible for this initiative is to bring together all stakeholders in the sector to boost the international profile of France’s dynamic digital economy, which harbors world-class talent. The Minister has launched a consultation involving these stakeholders, who can complete an online...

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Chapter News, News

EU Trade Commissioner: Transatlantic Trade Agreement to Provide Economic Stimulus

Speaking at a conference on Europe at Harvard March 2, European Union Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht stressed that fostering transatlantic trade would be the best way to provide economic stimulus. "This is the cheapest stimulus package you can imagine," he said. Noting that "On both sides, we are still suffering the effects of the earthquake that hit our economies in 2008," Commissioner De Gucht agreed that trade is an indispensable ingredient of prosperity as he made the case for...

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Member News, News

Italian Supreme Court Affirms Position Against Punitive Damage Awards

The Italian Supreme Court, the highest court in Italy, and analogous to the United States Supreme Court, has historically found that punitive damage awards in civil matters are contrary to the Italian system of civil liability which seeks compensation rather than punishment. In the recent decision Soc Ruffinatti v. Oyola-Rosado, the “Corte Suprema di Cassazione” sentence n. 1781/2012 of February, 8, 2012, the Italian Supreme Court further underscored this position by finding that foreign judgments which award punitive damages are...

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Member News, News

Pepper Hamilton Financial Services Alert: The New Normal: Third-Party Vendors Under the Microscope

As the financial services industry continues to strive for efficiency, financial institutions, both deposit and non-deposit taking, are increasingly relying on third parties to perform banking or product functions that are either new to the industry or had traditionally been performed by the institutions themselves. This increased reliance on vendors is driven in many cases by legitimate business reasons, most notably cost considerations as vendors are able to provide economies of scale, expertise or additional products that the institutions often...

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