By Heidi Waem | Brussels | +32 2 566 8450 |  & Louisa Vandepitte | Brussels | +32 2 566 8236 | NautaDutilh On 10 January 2018, the act on the creation of the Data Protection Authority (the "Act") was published in the Belgian State Gazette. The Act will enter into force on 25 May 2018, except for the provisions relating to the appointment of members of the Executive Committee, the Knowledge Centre and the Dispute Resolution Body, which will enter into...

Read more

By Orest Mandzy | Trepp Last year could have been a disaster for the CMBS market. While it dodged the risk retention bullet, it's now facing headaches of a different sort, namely the potential weak performance of retail loans. Risk-retention rules, which went into effect in late 2016, were feared to wreak havoc on the market.  Many were concerned that investors would be hard pressed to come up with sufficient long-term capital to take down enough subordinate bonds to keep the market relevant. But they came through. And...

Read more

By Joshua C. Weinberger | Member | jweinbergercozen.com |(215) 665-2173 | Cozen O'Connor On December 22, 2017, President Trump signed into law a comprehensive tax reform bill commonly known as the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (the Act). The Act makes major changes to federal income and estate tax law, including numerous changes affecting businesses, individuals, tax-exempt organizations, the taxation of compensation arrangements, and fundamental aspects of U.S. international taxation. The Act is the largest overhaul of the Internal Revenue Code since...

Read more

By Bakyt Azimkanov | Flora Wilke | EY The mergers and acquisitions (M&A) outlook in 2018 looks robust with global corporates seeing deals as a significant opportunity for growth this year. There is a heightened appetite to do deals in the next 12 months among global executives looking to acquire, with digital transformation remaining a core driver of M&A.1 While 2017 global deal value fell 7%2(US$3.2t) compared to 2016, deal volumes increased 6%. The slowdown in mega deals, which characterized 2017 activity,...

Read more

By Blue Star Strategies 2017 was an exciting year for Blue Star Strategies. To continue to provide effective and top quality services for our public and private sector clients, we welcomed four new colleagues and expanded our Europe and Latin America practices. We grew our institutional affiliations and made significant investments in our marketing and communications portfolio.Our 2017 client portfolio took us to over two dozen countries around the world, from the halls of U.S. Congress to Latin American capitals...

Read more

By Maximilian Coqui |Alexandre Marian |Qian Xu | Alix Partners Car sharing and ride hailing are clearly here to stay. Although we haven’t yet felt the full impact of shared mobility, it is already starting to make an impact on consumers’ car-buying decisions. To learn more about how shared mobility could transform the auto industry, we surveyed more than 5,000 consumers around the world. At a glance Awareness of car sharing and ride hailing is now nearly universal among urban consumers in...

Read more

By Rory Moore | Associate | rorymoorecozen.com | (800) 523-2900 |Cozen O'Connor The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (the Act), signed into law on December 22, 2017, makes major changes to federal income and estate tax law. There are numerous changes in the Act that affect businesses, individuals, tax-exempt organizations, the taxation of compensation arrangements, and fundamental aspects of U.S. international taxation. As one in a series of Alerts on the Act, this piece will provide insight into significant changes to the...

Read more

By Tobias Niehl | Max Welbes | Loyens & Loeff In its press release 18/02 of 5 January 2018 (the Press Release), the Luxembourg supervisory authority for the financial sector (Commission de surveillance du secteur financier – CSSF) informs about a change of policy regarding Luxembourg UCITS investing in other UCI (the Non-UCITS).1 According to the past CSSF policy, Luxembourg UCITS were allowed to invest in a non-UCITS ETF if the Luxembourg UCITS ensured that the non-UCITS ETF effectively complied with the...

Read more

By Houthoff Regulatory Team | +31 (0)10 217 26 29 |regulatory@houthoff.com This overview provides a selection of relevant legal developments regarding financial services regulation including the new rules on PRIIPs, the commencement of the MiFID II regime and amendment of the remuneration rules. Retail Start of PRIIPs regulation As of 1 January 2018, the so-called PRIIPS regulation applies. This regulation introduces the obligation for manufacturers, sellers and advisers of packaged retail and insurance-based investment products (or PRIIPs) to provide retail investors with...

Read more