Member News

Vulcan Insight | Post-Brexit Talks Escalate Over UK Plans to Break Withdrawal Agreement

As the EU chief Brexit negotiator headed to London for the eighth round of post-Brexit negotiations, the underlying tensions between the EU and UK Government finally reached breaking point after a series of aggressions, this week. The deep-seated divisions and mounting tensions between Michel Barnier and his UK counterpart David Frost have become increasingly apparent over the past few weeks, with the two men publicly accusing each other, or the institutions they represent, of everything from stalling progress to refusing to engage with...

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Chapter News, Financing for Development/UN SDG's

Managing Climate Risk in the U.S. Financial System

Report of the Climate-Related Market Risk Subcommittee, Market Risk Advisory Committee of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Below includes the executive summary, while access to the full report can be found here: Managing Climate Risk in the U.S. Financial System Executive Summary Climate change poses a major risk to the stability of the U.S. financial system and to its ability to sustain the American economy. Climate change is already impacting or is anticipated to impact nearly every facet of the economy,...

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Chapter News, Financing for Development/UN SDG's

OECD | Countries must do more to ensure sustainable development of ocean activities

Countries need to work together to defend the ocean from a steady rise in temperature, pollution and overfishing that threatens its ability to continue supporting marine life and providing food and income to billions of people, according to a new OECD report. Sustainable Ocean for All: Harnessing the benefits of sustainable ocean economies for developing countries says that with ocean-related economic sectors forecast to grow rapidly over the next decade, ensuring this development takes place in a sustainable way is...

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Chapter News, COVID-19 News

Countries have responded decisively to the COVID-19 crisis, but face significant fiscal challenges ahead

03/09/2020 - Governments have taken unprecedented fiscal action in response to the COVID-19 crisis, but countries will need to support economic recovery in the face of significantly increasing fiscal challenges, according a new OECD report. Tax Policy Reforms 2020 describes the latest tax reforms across OECD countries, as well as in Argentina, China, Indonesia and South Africa. The report identifies major tax policy trends adopted before the COVID-19 crisis and takes stock of the tax and broader fiscal measures introduced...

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Chapter News

Addressing COVID-19: Council of the EU approves €6.2 billion budget increase for 2020

Today, the Council agreed to add €6.2 billion to the EU 2020 budget to address the impact of the COVID-19-crisis and to fund inter alia the vaccine strategy. The Council adopted draft amending budget No 8 for 2020 by written procedure. The revised budget increases payments for the Emergency Support Instrument (ESI) by €1.09 billion to ensure the development and deployment of a COVID-19 vaccine. The European Commission will use this money as a down-payment for pre-ordering vaccine doses. Draft amending budget No 8 also...

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Chapter News

IMF | Event of the Finance Ministers on Financing for Development in the Era of COVID-19 and Beyond

By Kristalina Georgieva, IMF Managing Director, Washington, DC | As prepared for delivery I would like to start by thanking Minister Freeland in her new role as Finance Minister. And my thanks to Finance Minister Clarke of Jamaica, and to Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed. I will focus my remarks today on two issues. One, the outlook for the world economy. And two, the implications of this outlook for what we must collectively do. On the outlook, since we last met in the end...

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Chapter News, COVID-19 News

France and Germany facing European challenges in the crisis

Speech by François Villeroy de Galhau, Governor of the Banque de France | Berlin Academy – Berlin, 10 September 2020 Ambassador Descôtes Professors Schwan, Göring, Kaplan, Ladies and gentlemen, I am very pleased to be with you today, despite the obstacles related to Covid. The Berlin Academy is one of the essential forums where Franco-German relations, which are at the heart of the European project, can be deepened over time. I am completely convinced of this. I am French, but my family's roots...

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Brexit News

Statement by Michel Barnier following Round 8 of negotiations for a new partnership between the European Union and the United Kingdom

London, September 10 | By Michel Barnier The eighth round of negotiations on the future EU-UK partnership took place in London this week. The EU remains committed to an ambitious future partnership with the UK. This would clearly be to the benefit of both sides. Nobody should underestimate the practical, economic and social consequences of a “no deal” scenario. In order to maximise the chances of a deal, the EU has shown flexibility to work around the UK's red lines and find solutions...

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Member News

Portolano Cavallo | Life Sciences M&A Trends: Earnout Clauses, General Outlook, and a Few Drafting Tips

Earnout payments are a common and widely used tool for pricing targets operating in the life sciences, although there are various nuances depending on the specific sub-sector (biotech, pharma, med-tech, and so on). Indeed, earnouts can be a powerful mechanism in an industry where the evaluation of a target can be quite complex due to things like long R&D phases, clinical trials, and market access to products, especially in the biotech and pharma sectors, with all the connected risks....

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Member News

Thompson Hine | Treasury Issues Guidance on Potential Payroll Tax Deferral

During negotiations earlier this year between the White House and Congress over a potential third round of COVID-19 relief legislation, the idea of a Social Security payroll tax holiday was raised as a possible means to provide relief to American workers. A payroll tax holiday would consist of a temporary reduction or elimination of the employee’s share of the Social Security tax (which currently equals 6.2% of an employee’s 2020 wages up to the Social Security wage base of...

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