On December 30, 2015, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) released a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) concerning employment-based visa programs for high-skilled workers. The notice is published in the December 31, 2015 Federal Register and is subject to a 60-day comment period ending on February 29, 2016. The proposed regulations cover a wide range of issues and represent significant amendments to the employment-based immigration system. The NPRM divides the proposed changes into three categories: (1) provisions concerning the...

We want to wish all of our readers a healthy, happy, and prosperous New Year. We will write more about this over the next week or so, but most CMBS players will certainly be hoping for different results in 2016. Between disappointing new issue totals and significant spread widening, the market had more troughs than peaks. For the record, the first conduit deal of 2015 saw the 10-year AAA price at S+95 and the BBB- clear at S+380. The year's...

Cross-Border Investigations are a new global phenomenon. At intervals that are getting shorter and shorter, European and American newspapers write about investigating authorities which are conducting supervisory or criminal law investigations against multinational companies and their boards. Recent developments – especially the Volkswagen investigation as a prime example – make it clear, that companies and their directors should get a feeling for this sensitive and present issue. This papers aim is to give you a short overview about the legal...

The Consumer Product Safety Commission (“CPSC”) and State of Vermont have enacted new requirements relating to the regulation of children’s toys and other children’s products. I. CPSC Amendment to Testing Requirements for Unfinished and Untreated Wood Toys and Wood Component Parts of Toys In a Federal Register notice dated December 17, 2015, the CPSC published a final rule amending the requirements of ASTM F963-11 to eliminate third party testing requirements for certain unfinished and untreated woods toys and wood component parts...

After what seemed like an eternity of will they or won't they stories, the Fed finally raised rates this week and...not much happened. US equities rallied on the announcement but gave back all the gains the following day. The Dow and S&P were both down more than 2% on the week and crude oil ended below $35, down almost 50% on the year. The ten year US treasury ended the week yielding 2.21%, up less than 10 bps despite...

De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek has advised SNS Bank on reaching an agreement with NIBC Bank on the acquisition of SNS Securities.  NIBC acquires SNS Securities from SNS Bank Clients of NIBC and SNS Securities will benefit from the combined product suite NIBC Bank NV (NIBC) and SNS Bank NV (SNS Bank) have reached an agreement on the acquisition of SNS Securities NV (SNS Securities). With this transaction, NIBC expands its service offering with capital market solutions, equity and fixed-income brokerage, research and...

DS-Concept Factoring, a global commercial finance company specializing in international non-recourse factoring, has provided a $1 million reverse factoring facility to a fashion retailer in Germany. The client, a fashion retailer with over 50 locations throughout Germany, anticipates an annual factored volume of $10MM-$15MM. With DS-Concept funding the client’s suppliers in China and Bangladesh, the foreign vendors benefit from faster funding and lower borrowing costs. With the increased working capital, the client will focus on their expansion and plans to...

The Institute of International Education was featured in CNBC as one of the top 10 charities changing the world in 2015. IIE also received Charity Navigator’s coveted 4-star rating for sound fiscal management and commitment to accountability and transparency for the 8th year in a row. IIE is among only 2 percent of charities to receive at least 8 consecutive 4-star evaluations, indicating that IIE outperforms most other charities in America. © 2015 Compliments of the Institute of International Education...