The Italian Supreme Court, the highest court in Italy, and analogous to the United States Supreme Court, has historically found that punitive damage awards in civil matters are contrary to the Italian system of civil liability which seeks compensation rather than punishment. In the recent decision Soc Ruffinatti v. Oyola-Rosado, the “Corte Suprema di Cassazione” sentence n. 1781/2012 of February, 8, 2012, the Italian Supreme Court further underscored this position by finding that foreign judgments which award punitive damages are...

As the financial services industry continues to strive for efficiency, financial institutions, both deposit and non-deposit taking, are increasingly relying on third parties to perform banking or product functions that are either new to the industry or had traditionally been performed by the institutions themselves. This increased reliance on vendors is driven in many cases by legitimate business reasons, most notably cost considerations as vendors are able to provide economies of scale, expertise or additional products that the institutions often...

The first enforcement actions under Dodd-Frank’s whistleblower program, along with the steady flow of tips received by the SEC, illustrate why it is important for companies to be prepared to deal with an issue before an investigation occurs. In this environment, companies and counsel should take steps to minimize the risk that possible violations of securities laws are reported externally. To read the entire article, click here: Minimizing the Risk of Reporting Externally.  

Before there is agreement on a merger or acquisition in 2013, dealmakers will be much more focused on the panoply of risks involved - regulatory, environmental and labor - and will carry out more extensive due diligence than in the past, according to a panel of senior M&A specialists. The special circumstances surrounding the new deal environment were the focus of a conference hosted by The Deal at the New York Stock Exchange in November. Entitled "Global Dealmaking in 2013:...

Brian Korn, of counsel and resident of Pepper's New York, Los Angeles and Orange County offices, practices in our corporate and securities group and is a member of the firm's Financial Services Reform Response Team. Brian has recently given a presentation to the New York City Bar on changes to swaps and derivative products for corporate end-users resulting from the Dodd-Frank Wall St. Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010. Brian spent a few minutes with us to discuss the...

In a recent decision, the Dutch Supreme Court has reaffirmed the so-called principle of concordance between the law systems of the Netherlands and Aruba, Curaçao and Sint Maarten. The principle of concordance entails that the countries that form part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, which each have their own legislative authority, should strive to have their civil and criminal law be as similar as possible. The political relations between the countries were changed significantly in 2010, resulting in...

Delegation of Investment Management under the AIFMD The delegation model of fund management, whereby self-managed investment vehicles or their management companies appoint third party investment managers and advisers, has been a key basis upon which the success of the funds industry in Ireland has been built. There are currently in excess of 5,000 Irish domiciled funds and sub-funds, with assets in excess of 1 Trillion Euro, which have been established by over 400 fund promoters based in over 50 countries....

The Central Bank of Ireland (the Central Bank), the Irish regulatory authority for the fund sector, has just published a new alternative investment fund (AIF) handbook (the AIF Handbook). This contains complete details regarding the manner in which the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (AIFMD) will be applied to AIFs in Ireland. The Central Bank is the first European regulator to issue this level of detailed guidance. The AIF Handbook revises and streamlines the existing non-UCITS regime in Ireland and...