By Georges Ugeux, Chairman & CEO | Galileo Global Advisors  The puny frog Swelled so well that she cracked. The world is full of people who are not wiser: Every bourgeois wants to build like the great lords, Every little prince has ambassadors, Every Marquis wants to have pages. Jean de la Fontaine   Over the past few months, while having interviews and presentations on the occasion of the publication of my book "The Descent to the Underworld of Finance" – prefaced by Jean Claude Trichet and published...

The latest EY ITEM Club forecast has cut its GDP growth projections to 1.3% for 2019 (from 1.5% in the EY ITEM Club Winter Forecast) and 1.5% for 2020 (down from 1.7%). Despite likely solid-looking GDP growth in the first quarter of 2019, the downward revision for 2019 primarily reflects the prolonged Brexit uncertainty, following the decision to delay the UK’s exit from the EU to a flexible 31 October deadline. A weaker global economic environment has also impacted the...

By Norma M. Krayem, Holland & Knight New Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) rule mandates new wide-ranging cybersecurity reporting standards in CIP 008-6. Mandatory reporting is now required for "cyber security incidents that either compromise, or attempt to compromise Electronic Security Perimeters, Electronic Access Control or Monitoring Systems and Physical Security Perimeters" for high- and medium-impact bulk electric systems (BES) cyber system. New rule requires detailed cybersecurity incident response plans and documentation around key details needed in plans. "Paper"...

Key Events This Week G20 leaders meet in Osaka The G20 Summit will take place this week on 28 and 29 June in Osaka, Japan. The top themes of this year’s summit will be the global economy, trade and investment, innovation and environment and energy. The ongoing US-China trade war will dominate discussion, with any statement by President Trump or Xi Jinping likely to be closely watched by governments and investors alike, for a sense of the global economic outlook. The US...

By Marco Blei, Counsel | Portolano Cavallo Studio Legale On May 2, 2019, the Court of Justice of the European Union (“CJEU”) delivered a decision on the protection of geographical indications, clarifying that using figurative signs evoking the geographical area to which a protected designation of origin (“PDO”) is linked may constitute an unlawful evocation of the latter. The ruling followed a request for a preliminary ruling that was made in the proceedings pending before the Supreme Court of Spain...

By Josephine Jay | Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati On June 20, 2019, the UK's Data Protection Authority (ICO) published a report on adtech and real-time bidding. The report highlights the main problems faced by the industry when applying the General Data Protection Regulation's (GDPR's) stringent requirements, and calls for further engagement on these issues by the different adtech players in the space. Background When the GDPR became effective on May 25, 2018, it imposed new and strict obligations on companies processing...

Leading the charge and embracing the modern, digital economy, the Netherlands is thriving. The country has a world-class infrastructure, highly skilled workforce and excellent quality of life, putting it at the heart of the global supply chain and making it a desirable location for growing businesses. HSBC has been operating from its branch in Amsterdam since 1999, initially as a global liquidity and cash management office, before expanding in 2011 to offer a full range of banking services to our corporate...

The Toy Association testified on June 24, 2019 at the U.S. Trade Representative’s (USTR) Special 301 Committee hearing regarding proposed tariffs on approximately $300 billion in Chinese products, including toys. Delivered by Rebecca Mond, the Association’s vice president of federal government affairs, the testimony outlined the significant harm and devastating impact that tariffs would have on the U.S. toy industry, their workers, and consumers, and formally requested the removal of the Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HTS) code 9503.00.000 (the tariff line under...