Banking & Finance

Recent Articles

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  17.03.2023

  Belgium

  Bel­gi­um levels re­strict­ive con­di­tions on the com­mer­cial­isa­tion of vir­tu­al coins among con­sumers

  As a result of a new regulation, any advertisement commercialising virtual coins in Belgium and distributed to consumers must take into account a number of obligations consisting of both substantive rules and mandatory disclosures. These new regulations, formulated by the Belgian Financial Services and Markets Authority (FSMA), appeared in the Belgian Official Gazette on 17 March 2023 and will enter into force on 17 May 2023.Who must observe these rules?Any person who, for remuneration on a professional or occasional basis, advertises virtual currencies in Belgium, which are distributed to consumers....

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  17.03.2023

  United Kingdom

  Changes to au­dio-visu­al tax re­liefs in the UK

  Following a period of consultation in which much of the industry has been actively engaged, the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced in this week’s Spring Budget the package of reforms that will apply to audio-visual tax reliefs in the UK.The reforms are applicable to all 5 audio-visual tax reliefs (film, high-end TV, children’s TV, animation and video games) and one of the changes at the heart of the reforms is the decision to move all the tax reliefs to expenditure credits. This will be implemented by way of two models:one for film and TV expenditure credits (the Audio-visual Expenditure...

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  15.03.2023

  United Kingdom

  Spring Budget 2023 – key tax policy an­nounce­ments

  Today’s Spring Budget speech focused on moving the UK economy into growth mode. With the increase in the main rate of corporation tax to 25% on the horizon and fast-approaching, the Chancellor turned to reliefs rather than rate cuts to demonstrate his commitment to incentivising investment in the UK. For most businesses, the “headline” announcement in this area will have been the introduction of a generous full-expensing regime for capital allowances, but other important measures include the permanent increase to the Annual Investment Allowance, reforms to Research & Development...

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  14.03.2023

  Luxembourg

  ESMA Guidelines to ap­ply for per­mis­sion to op­er­ate a DLT mar­ket in­fra­struc­ture

  Regulation (EU) 2022/858 on a pilot regime for market infrastructures based on distributed ledger technology (“DLT”) provides for, inter alia, specific permissions to operate DLT market infrastructures (“DLT MI”), namely a DLT Multilateral Trading Facility, a DLT Settlement System and a DLT Trading and Settlement System (the “Permission”). On 8 March 2023, ESMA released its Guidelines which set out standard forms, formats and templates to apply for the Permission (the “Guidelines”) and pertain to competent authorities as well as to applicants...

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  14.03.2023

  China

  China has ac­ceded to the Hag­ue Con­ven­tion of 5 Oc­to­ber 1961 Ab­ol­ish­ing the Re­quire­ment of Leg­al­isa­tion for For­eign Pub­lic Doc­u­ments

  On 8 March 2023, the People's Republic of China (the "PRC") has (finally!) acceded to the Hague Convention of 5 October 1961 Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents (the "Convention").The Convention between the PRC, as the acceding state, and other member states (which will not have raised an objection; see below) will enter into force as of 7 November 2023.This constitutes a long-awaited and very positive development.Please click here to read the full article.

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  13.03.2023

  Luxembourg

  Im­ple­ment­a­tion of the DLT pi­lot re­gime in Lux­em­bourg – Block­chain law III

  On 9 March 2023, bill of law 8055 laying down rules for the application of Regulation (EU) 2022/858 on a pilot regime for market infrastructures based on distributed ledger technology (the “Regulation”) was adopted by Parliament.The Regulation introduces a pilot scheme which allows national competent authorities to temporarily exempt distributed ledger technology (“DLT”) market infrastructures from some of the specific requirements imposed by existing legislation on traditional market infrastructures (for more information on the Regulation, please refer to our eAlert).In...

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