On Jan. 6, 2016, the staff of the SEC's Division of Investment Management released long-awaited guidance on mutual fund payments to intermediaries for services to omnibus and networked shareholder accounts. The guidance reflects the IM staff's views on a range of payments to financial intermediaries for non-distribution-related services, including sub-transfer agent, administration, sub-accounting and other shareholder servicing fees (the staff call these, collectively, the "sub-accounting fees"). The guidance reaffirms that directors bear a substantial responsibility in approving these arrangements, expands the...

This article was originally published in The Daily Deal and is published here with permission. Cross-border transactions demand cultural sensitivity, patience and understanding. Valuations can be tricky. Due diligence is, almost by definition, harder and more time consuming than domestic planning, with different regulatory regimes, tax codes and legal systems. In the end, however, with strategic focus leading the way, these deals across can be hugely successful. Those are some of the insights provided by a panel in the Deal Economy...

2015 was a busy year, not least in respect of legal and regulatory changes that may impact your business. We are pleased to provide you with an overview of the major legal and regulatory developments under Luxembourg and EU law. BANKING & FINANCIAL SERVICES EU anti-money laundering package - AML IV Directive: In June 2015 the EU updated and extended its legal framework in order to further strengthen the European Union’s defence system against money laundering and terrorist financing. To this...

Another day, another dud? It sure looked that way before the opening bell, with futures pointing to another down day. However, US equities managed to end mixed on Tuesday. The Dow ended 10 points higher (0.06%) while the S&P 500 moved up 0.20%, though both spent the majority of the day in negative territory. The Nasdaq couldn't complete the trifecta, as it fell 0.24% yesterday. The CMBS market saw its first day with any meaningful trading volume in about two weeks. About...

DS-Concept Factoring, Inc., a global commercial finance company specializing in international non-recourse factoring, has provided a $3 million export accounts receivable facility to a trading company headquartered in the British Virgin Islands with subsidiaries in the US, Canada and UK. The client, who supplies plastics, polymers and resins to manufacturers and distributors in the US, Europe and the Middle East, will receive Euro, GBP and USD factoring lines. Implementing this non-recourse factoring facility to accommodate growing sales, the client will receive financing...

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...