On January 1, 2021, Congress enacted the Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2020 (the “AML Act”), which contains the most significant reforms to U.S. AML laws since the USA PATRIOT Act of 2001. Below are some key provisions of the AML Act, and here is a more detailed description of the statute’s major provisions. Key Provisions Beneficial Ownership Registry. Creates a new, long-awaited central registry for beneficial ownership information of shell companies and other smaller, less regulated entities, which will be available to financial...

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The European Fund for Strategic Investments has been one of the good news stories to emerge in a decade of economic uncertainty. It has gone well beyond its highly ambitious target of €500 billion in mobilised investments. The Juncker Plan has made a strong contribution to the 14 million jobs created in the EU between 2015 and 2020. EFSI has become a success in co-financing projects that otherwise might not have been carried through. It has also charted the path...

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Undoubtedly, the most pressing issue on President Joseph R. Biden’s agenda is the COVID-19 pandemic which, in his own words, “silently stalks” both the United States and the globe. Remarks he made during his inauguration speech that the US may be entering “the toughest and deadliest period of the virus” coupled with Thursday’s sobering headlines that the number of American virus related deaths had surpassed the country’s troop fatalities in World War II, only serve to underscore the point. To...

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The global leaders of FTI Consulting’s Cybersecurity practice analyzed major developments from their respective regions — including the fallout of the U.S. Presidential Election, Brexit, and the upcoming Tokyo Olympics — to forecast what to expect in the coming year. Cybersecurity, already an essential consideration for all organizations, became even more critical in 2020, as malicious actors sought to capitalize on the societal confusion, fear, and uncertainty sown by a global pandemic. Organizations and individuals alike were targeted with sophisticated...

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After Inauguration Day on Jan. 20, 2021, and with the seating of the two newly elected Democratic senators from Georgia, Democrats will have control of the White House and both houses of Congress for the first time since 2011. The narrow margin by which the Democrats hold both houses, however, will restrain what tax proposals can become law, either through regular order or a budgetary reconciliation process. This Holland & Knight alert outlines the tax policy priorities of...

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The EACC, in partnership with the International Property Tax Institute (IPTI), wants to keep its members up to date with the latest developments in property taxes in the USA and Europe. IPTI has put together a selection of brief reports from articles contained in IPTI Xtracts which can be found on its website (www.ipti.org). UNITED STATES New York: NYC Property Values Decline 5% as Offices and Hotels Stand Empty Office building values drop 6%: finance department Decrease in property value is...

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Spain was the first country to benefit from the European Guarantee Fund (EGF). Impact: nearly €8.5 billion for 98 operations in Spain, financing that amounts to nearly 0.8% of national GDP. Climate action: accounted for 38% of total activity, an increase of 9 percentage points compared to 2019. Investment Plan for Europe: Spain is the country with the third-highest volume of financing approved since 2015. The European Investment Bank Group (EIB and EIF) today presented the results of its activity...

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On January 12, 2021, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) announced an updated final rule designed to increase prevailing wages required for certain visa processes. The updated rule, entitled “Strengthening Wage Protections for the Temporary and Permanent Employment of Certain Aliens in the United States,” is the DOL’s second attempt in recent months to revise how the existing four-tiered wage structure of the Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) wage survey is calculated for purposes of determining prevailing wages. If the rule...

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