MAGAZINE
March 2016 Issue
Financier Worldwide Magazine
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COVER STORY
The disruptive influence of FinTech
The financial services industry has endured a tumultuous decade, with the financial crisis and subsequent fallout taking their toll. Financial institutions are facing increased regulatory scrutiny among a number of other...
FEATURES
Records fall: reflecting on the 2015 M&A scene
With 2016 now firmly upon us and 2015 consigned to the realm of history, it’s natural to look back and reflect on the year gone by – the trends, developments, successes and failures. Certainly, as far as global...
Private equity and the English Premier League
Traditionally, English football clubs were owned and operated by local businessmen. For more than 100 years they were deeply rooted within, and accountable to, their local communities. But times have moved on. Indeed, the...
Virtual reality (VR) has been in the public consciousness since at least the 1980s. Science fiction films and television shows, as well as technology evangelist, have often predicted the rise and eventual ubiquity of virtual reality...
Africa: the continent where the corrupt roam free?
Bribery and corruption are words often used in an African context, as if such activities were the sole preserve of that particular continent; a blatantly unfair association for sure given the murky goings-on in other regions of the world...
Complying with European data protection harmony
Like it or not, today we live in an age of data, one of the consequences of which is a raft of rules and regulations purportedly designed to assist global firms as they go about the business of doing business. Yet some legislation can prove...
ROUNDTABLE
Sanctions compliance & enforcement
THE PANELLISTS: Kerry B. Contini, Baker & McKenzie LLP; Beth Pride, BPE Global; Megan Gajewski Barnhill, Bryan Cave LLP; Adam M. Smith, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP; Adrian Mebane, The Hershey Company; Renato Antonini, Jones Day LLP; and Konstantinos Katsoulis, PerkinElmer.
The sanctions compliance and enforcement landscape over the past few years has been dominated by issues surrounding the imposition of multilateral sanctions against Russia and Crimea, as well as the longstanding trade...
SPECIAL REPORT
One legacy of the financial crisis is a better appreciation of risk among global companies. Shareholders, regulators and other interested parties continue to quiz corporate boards on their risk management practices...
FORUM: Resolving insurance disputes
FW moderates a discussion on resolving insurance disputes between Cathy Hawkins at BLM, Chris Chapman at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP, Stephen King at Mills & Reeve LLP, Nicholas Bradley at Pinsent Masons LLP, and Colin Peck at Weightmans LLP.
All change for UK insurance law
CMS Cameron McKenna LLP August 2016 will see the most important changes to UK insurance law for over 100 years with the coming into force of the Insurance Act 2015. The Act introduces key changes to the duty of disclosure in commercial insurance contracts...
Insuring reps & warranties risks in M&A transactions
Allied World Insurance Company In recent years, representations and warranties (R&W) insurance has become a much more common feature of mergers and acquisitions transactions, driven in large part by private equity firms and other ‘repeat customers’. R&W...
Captive insurance companies: an alternative risk transfer vehicle
Arent Fox LLP Any commercial organisation that is large enough to utilise a holding company structure for its subsidiaries and operations should seriously consider creating and utilising an alternative risk transfer (ART) vehicle or structure for its...
Trending risk transfer techniques challenge legal conventions
Kramer Levin The use of captive and other non-traditional insurers to manage risks may pose challenges to accepted legal doctrines and conventions. Below we focus on some evolving aspects of risk transfer that warrant caution for...
Board governance must include cyber security risk management and insurance strategy
King & Spalding Cyber security has become a core governance issue for boards as company after company has been rocked by cyber security incidents. Board members have fiduciary duties, which generally require them to monitor...
Securing insurance for the ‘Internet of Things’
K&L Gates LLP Internet connected, data generating items are increasingly integrated into every aspect of daily life. It is commonly accepted that the amount of data we generate will increase tenfold every five years, and more and more consumer and...
Yates Memorandum: impact of new rules for manager liability in the US on D&O insurance in Germany
Hendricks Rechtsanwälte In the motherland of D&O insurance, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) has proclaimed to make short shrift with managers. This makes an adjustment of current D&O insurance protection necessary. As for German managers’...
Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty (AGCS) Energy is a volatile business. The price of a barrel of oil – the herald of fat times or lean for the industry – reached a sky-high $100 a barrel early last year only to slide into a mid-$30s hole by Christmas. Tension in the industry has...
Asbestos litigation reform momentum builds in US
Shook, Hardy & Bacon L.L.P. Asbestos litigation in the US is now over 40 years old, yet continues to cost defendant companies and insurers billions of dollars each year. The litigation marches on because asbestos use was so widespread, and because of the...
Insurance coverage and the Telephone Consumer Protection Act
Bryan Cave LLP The past several years have seen an explosion in class action cases brought under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), 47 U.S.C 227. The TCPA generally restricts telemarketing phone calls and the use of...
DEALfront
mergers & acquisitions
Johnson Controls to buy Tyco in $16.5bn inversion deal
Johnson Controls Inc and Tyco International Plc announced in late January that they had agreed to a $16.5bn merger, a deal which will see another historic US company ‘invert’ and redomicile in Ireland. According to a...
Suncor buys Canadian Oil Sands for $6.8bn
In an agreement which ends a public feud between two Calgary-based companies, Suncor Energy Inc. and Canadian Oil Sands (COS) Limited have announced that they will support a fresh offer made by Suncor to purchase all COS...
private equity & venture capital
Stonepeak infrastructure fund raises $3.5bn
Stonepeak Infrastructure Partners, a North America-focused private equity firm which specialises in infrastructure and middle market investments, has announced the completion of its fundraising for its second...
Private capital fundraising target rises to $946bn
Private capital fundraising has been on the increase for a number of years. 2015 was the fifth consecutive year of growth in total investments raised for private capital funds, which include private equity, debt, real estate...
bankruptcy & corporate restructuring
Going up in smoke – Arch Coal files for Chapter 11
In mid January, Arch Coal Inc became the latest US coal mining operation to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection as the country’s energy tastes continue to shift toward natural gas. According to Arch’s bankruptcy filing...
Swift Energy Company files for Chapter 11 protection
Independent US-based oil and natural gas producer Swift Energy Company has announced that it has agreed to convert all senior notes to equity pursuant to the terms of a restructuring support programme – an agreement that will...
SPOTlight
Singapore courts and legislature take pro-business approach to cross-border insolvencies
Providence Law Asia LLC Fears of a second serious financial crisis within a decade have galvanised the Singapore legislature and courts to coordinate their efforts in dealing with cross-border corporate failures. As one of the world’s most open...
The rise of private placements as an alternative source of funding: a time for innovation and growth
Reed Smith During 2015, the European market saw a weakening in performance across the large cap loan and bond markets as a consequence of ongoing macro concerns, choppy equity markets and oil price volatility. These market conditions
MiFID II will be very demanding – here’s how to avoid the pitfalls
Alpha Insight The new requirements under MiFID II threaten yet another set of regulations that banks will probably feel they have to answer with more technology. Just as they are coming to terms with the demands of the Basel Committee...
Europe’s new cyber security directive
Hogan Lovells In December 2015, after two years of negotiations, the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission agreed on the first cyber security directive for the European Union. The directive seeks to ensure a common level of...
Kingsley Napley The SFO has had a good start to the year. Its four-year bribery investigation into Smith & Ouzman concluded in January when the printing company was ordered to pay a financial penalty of £2.2m comprising a £1,316,799 fine...
Substantial easing of Iran sanctions alongside continued limitations and risks
Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP On 16 January 2016, ‘Implementation Day’, the sanctions on Iran and Iranian entities were substantially eased. This day marks a major milestone set out in the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the Iran nuclear...
CONTRIBUTORS
Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty (AGCS)
Allied World Insurance Company
Alpha Insight
Arent Fox LLP
Baker & McKenzie LLP
BLM
BPE Global
Bryan Cave LLP
CMS Cameron McKenna LLP
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP
Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP
Hendricks Rechtsanwälte
Hogan Lovells
Jones Day LLP
K&L Gates LLP
King & Spalding
Kingsley Napley
Kramer Levin
Mills & Reeve LLP
PerkinElmer
Pinsent Masons LLP
Providence Law Asia LLC
Reed Smith
Shook, Hardy & Bacon L.L.P.
The Hershey Company
Weightmans LLP