The EU has introduced a new Work-life Balance Directive. The Directive aims to improve access to family leave and flexible work arrangements in all EU Member States. Specifically, the new legislation intends to accomplish the following: Support better work-life balance for parents and carers Encourage a more equal sharing of parental leave between men and women Address women’s underrepresentation in the labour market Measures under the Directive include: Paternity leave According to the Directive, new fathers are entitled to ten days’ of...

Read more

EIB President Werner Hoyer addressed the Economic and Financial Affairs Council (ECOFIN), composed of the economics and finance ministers from all member states, following the conclusions of the Wise Persons Group assessment on current European financial architecture for development. President Hoyer explained the key role that the EIB can play to address global challenges and strengthen Europe’s development finance efficiency. He acknowledged the call from the Wise Persons Group to better organise and streamline EU development financing. As a response to...

Read more

Scrolling through your social media feeds, you likely noticed the surge of friends and public figures sharing posts of their future selves using the widely popular FaceApp. However, like most things, the devil is in the details. It’s only after combing through the Russian-affiliated application that cybersecurity experts began to question its user data privacy and practices—raising larger questions about user security regarding social media applications. We sat with CyZen’s Will Mendez about the mounting concerns about user data privacy...

Read more

On October 3, 2019, the Italian Government enacted a Legislative Decree (“Law”) aimed at implementing the EU Directive 2018/843 regarding anti-money laundering matters in EU state members. While the content of the Law is still unknown, the Law should introduce the following changes to the current Italian anti-money laundering framework. In particular, in accordance to the press release published on the website of the Italian Government, the Law aims at:  defining some categories of entities covered by the Law, including...

Read more

By Jonathan M. Epstein | Holland & Knight  The U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) on Sept. 25, 2019, designated COSCO Shipping Tanker (Dalian) Co. Ltd. (COSCO Dalian), Kunlun Shipping Company Ltd., and certain other entities and individuals as Specially Designated Nationals (SDNs) under Executive Order 13846 for transporting Iranian oil and petroleum products contrary to U.S. sanctions. Notwithstanding the long lead-up to this action, the designations took many in the maritime industry by surprise. In late 2018, as part of...

Read more

Hearkening the legacy and values of the Andersen name, Andersen Tax, one of the nation’s largest independent tax firms, will now operate under the brand “Andersen.” The Andersen name reflects the full scope of services available to clients in the U.S. and internationally.  Andersen Tax was founded in 2002 as a tax-only firm focused on private clients. Today the firm serves some of the largest companies in the world providing not only tax services but also valuation, transfer pricing and,...

Read more

EY's regional UK Attractiveness Survey report, in association with the Centre For Towns, reveals the stark and deepening disparity of foreign direct investment (FDI) flows into the UK, with its largest cities attracting an ever-greater share of inward investment and little signs of spillover benefit for the areas surrounding them. This joint report, which captures detailed analysis on where FDI has located across the UK’s cities, towns, communities and villages over the last twenty-one years, also points to a continued...

Read more

By Joanna Massey, President & CEO, JDMA Inc. In August 2018, I predicted that we would have a recession in the U.S. in 18 to 24 months. I was writing a paper for a capital markets class at Harvard, which was part of a graduate certificate in corporate finance that I have since completed.  I have been accused by of being “bearish” for nearly two years now, as fellow Board Directors, venture capitalists and friends in finance give me the side-eye when...

Read more