This past Summer, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced two settlements in which the SEC adopted a strict interpretation of the whistleblower protections afforded under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. In doing so, the SEC imposed monetary sanctions on companies for including language in employment-related agreements that it asserts deters employees from reporting securities law violations to the SEC's Office of the Whistleblower (and other agencies). The SEC imposed a variety of remedial measures...

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Peter Lindbergh lays bare the souls of a celebrity Hollywood cast - from Uma Thurman to Penelope Cruz, Nicole Kidman and Charlotte Rampling - in his "Emotional" titled-calendar. The 2017 calendar “conveys personality, sensitivity and the guts to be yourself”, Peter Lindbergh explained at the international press launch of the new calendar in Paris. The German photographer has called the creation "Emotional", emphasizing how his aim was "not shoot a calendar about perfect bodies but to capture sensitivity and emotion,...

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This is the fourth in an ongoing series of Dashboard Insights blog posts on the implications of the June 23, 2016 voter referendum in the United Kingdom (“UK”) to exit the European Union (“EU”) (“Brexit”). Prior articles reviewed: 1) developments leading up to the Brexit vote, likely competition law as well as procedural implications; 2) risks/uncertainties for standardization and innovation; and 3) possible alternative outcomes posed by Brexit – a hard landing, a soft landing or never-never land. This article...

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Data and analytics are starting to transform retail banking as standardized application programming interfaces (APIs) and data-enabled product comparisons become mainstream. The impact on banks that fail to react could be huge, but customers will benefit from a range of new services that could transform the way they manage—and even think about—their money. This article looks at how the transformation is progressing. The first financial technology (fintech) boom, from which few start-ups other than PayPal survived, is now being succeeded...

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Bank shares rose for a third week, although rates were slower than in previous weeks. Regional bank shares rose by 1.5%, while the largest banks gained a collective 1.9% for the week. Among the largest banks, Bank of America stood out with a 4.3% weekly gain. Higher interest rates are helping to propel bank shares as the 10-year Treasury yield picked up 4 basis points to end the week at 2.372%. The Fed is anticipated to raise rates at its next meeting in...

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Christopher Austin, a partner in Orrick’s Capital Markets practice, recently spoke with Law360 regarding whether a potential initial public offering from Snapchat app maker Snap Inc. could help boost the flagging tech IPO market A potential initial public offering from Snap Inc. is shaping up to be an important bellwether that could shed light on the public prospects for highly capitalized, venture-backed technology startups that are staying private longer nowadays, experts say, though many variables remain. Buzz about an IPO...

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The Venture Capital Board Member's Survival Guide: Handling Conflicts Effectively While Wearing Two Hats Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati partners Steve Bochner and Amy Simmerman have published an article in the Delaware Journal of Corporate Law on conflicts of interest under Delaware law in the private-company context. The article, which provides a practical guide on how to handle such conflicts, is an especially important read for venture funds and designees of funds serving on boards of directors. Click here to read...

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Barclays completes sale of its wealth and investment management business in Singapore and Hong Kong to Bank of Singapore. Barclays plc completed the sale of its wealth and investment management business in Singapore and Hong Kong to Bank of Singapore Ltd Monday for almost a third less than expected as it continues to shed its non-core assets. The buyer, a wholly-owned private banking subsidiary of Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation Ltd, paid $225 million for the unit that has assets under management of...

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Both Nasdaq and the NYSE have issued guidance clarifying that no stockholder approval is required for equity plan amendments permitting increased share withholding. Earlier this year, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) issued new guidance (ASU 2016-09) regarding equity-based compensation. Among other things, this guidance will enable employers to increase share withholding on equity awards. Now Nasdaq and the NYSE have clarified that equity plan amendments implementing this increased share withholding will not require stockholder approval. Under current accounting standards, an...

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EU data protection law places formal requirements on flows of personal data about EU residents beyond the EU’s borders. The concern is laudable: to assure that the principles of data protection available in the EU, in effect, travel with the data.  The laws rely on a variety of defined legal mechanisms to extend that protection.  Recent concerns, particularly about surveillance practices of the US government, have resulted in continuing legal uncertainty about the validity of two primary mechanisms for...

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