The major mortgage REITs continued to see loans get repaid during the third quarter, but their lending activity, while up sharply from the second quarter, remained anemic. The 14 companies tracked reported receiving a collective $3.83 billion of loan repayments during the latest period while originating $1.15 billion of loans. That resulted in a nearly 4% reduction in the companies' collective loan portfolios, to $89.09 billion. So far this year through September, the companies have originated only $3.07 billion of...

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Notice 2023-80 describes rules that would address the treatment of certain taxes, including Income Inclusion Rules (IIRs), Undertaxed Profit Rules (UTPRs), and Qualified Domestic Minimum Top-up Taxes (QDMTTs). GloBE Model Rules and the FTC Treasury and the IRS intend to issue proposed regulations consistent with the guidance regarding the following: Creditability and deductibility of GloBE Top-up Taxes that, in computing the amount of tax, consider the amount of tax that other countries (including the United States) impose on the direct or...

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The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has announced a plan to provide resources and incentives for the healthcare industry to adopt cybersecurity measures and to increase potential regulatory penalties for cybersecurity breaches amid growing data security risks to hospitals and health systems. On December 6, 2023, HHS released a “concept paper,” “Healthcare Sector Cybersecurity: Introduction to the Strategy of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services,” outlining four new and ongoing steps HHS will take to...

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Whether you’re a small business owner or a large corporation, automating your accounts payable (AP) process can help save time, reduce errors, and increase efficiency. Review some of the benefits that can lead to increased revenue and better decision-making.  Reduce manual processes Manually entering invoice information from PDFs into an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system is time consuming — and can cause errors. Using automation such as a form recognizer can pull data directly from PDFs, saving a lot of time....

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HSBC has become the first bank to pioneer quantum protection for AI-powered foreign exchange trading. As one of the world’s largest foreign exchange providers1, HSBC is leading the way in exploring how quantum cryptography can safeguard highly sensitive trading data against possible cyber threats as powerful as future quantum attacks. In a world-first trial, HSBC armed its award-winning HSBC AI Markets2(opens in new window) (opens in new window) (opens in new window) (opens in new window) (opens in new window)...

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With the release of Notice 2023-62, the IRS has again delayed the effective date of a SECURE Act 2.0 provision that would have required certain participants in employer-sponsored retirement savings plans age 50 and older to make catch-up contributions to those plans on a Roth basis beginning in 2024. This relief extends the start date to 2026. Section 63 of the SECURE Act 2.0 requires 401(k), 403(b) and 457(b) plan participants age 50 and older with prior-year Social Security wages...

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On 4 December 2023, the three European Supervisory Authorities (EBA, EIOPA and ESMA, together the ESAs) published their joint final report on draft Regulatory Technical Standards (draft RTS) on the review of PAI and financial product disclosures in the SFDR Delegated Regulation (Final Report), proposing amendments to the SFDR RTS. The publication comes in response to the EU Commission’s (EC) mandate to the ESAs in April 2022 and builds on a consultation paper on these topics published in April 2023, as...

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The EC’s investigation focused on tax rulings issued by the Luxembourg tax authorities between 2008 and 2014, which confirmed the tax treatment of certain mandatorily convertible instruments (‘instruments’) issued by two Luxembourg group subsidiaries (‘borrowers’) to two other Luxembourg companies of the group (‘lenders’). The rulings were confirming the following tax treatment: the borrowers treated the instruments as debt and recorded in their accounts accretions which were deductible at their level; the lenders entered into a forward sale agreement...

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With winter approaching, we are delighted to present our December business update. In this edition, aligned with our bi-monthly tradition, we have curated a range of insightful topics tailored for your U.S. subsidiary. As we gear up for 2024, we have updates relevant to the upcoming year.Topics covered:Sales Tax Rate Changes | Payroll & Benefits: Update on 2024 IRS Limits & Navigating Health Insurance Landscape | Navigating End-of-Year Tax Prep | Update on Beneficial Ownership Reporting | FDA News | Client Success Story | Action...

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