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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Since the start of the pandemic, the challenges faced by traditional brick and mortar retail with store closures and bankruptcies being announced at record rates, has been a major topic for the CRE industry.  One retail segment – the supermarket – faced record high sales, making it an investors dream.  Read on for the numbers and what it can mean for investors, as well as what can change in the future. Also making headlines last week was a new funding...

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On December 15, 2020, the European Commission (EC) unveiled a set of proposals to regulate digital platforms. The draft laws include antitrust-related requirements, addressed by the Digital Markets Act (DMA) and more general regulatory requirements, addressed in the Digital Services Act (DSA). The DMA/DSA package will apply to all digital services, including social media, online marketplaces, and other online platforms, meaning tech companies active in Europe will have a new set of rules to follow. According to the EC, the...

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After almost two decades at the helm of Germany’s centre-right CDU, and more than 15 years as Chancellor, Angela Merkel is set to step back from politics. This weekend, the CDU’s party congress is set to decide who will lead the party and, thus, most likely take Germany into the 26 September General Election campaign. After months-long delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and debates around whether the congress should be held in-person, the three candidates will now be elected...

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In this News Update, we inform you on the obligation to report incidents immediately, analyse some EU anti-money laundering developments, and update you on the secondary legislation associated with the Taxonomy Regulation. Finally, we highlight some other important financial regulatory publications. AFM – call for reporting incidents immediately The Dutch Authority for the Financial Markets ("AFM") recently called on the companies under its supervision to report incidents immediately. Due to the coronavirus outbreak and the increase in working from home, integrity and information...

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