On 17 January 2024, the International Swaps and Derivatives Association, Inc. (ISDA) launched a new clause library – this time for sustainability-linked derivatives (SLDs) – that sets out template contractual terms and related definitions for SLD transactions. The SLD Clause Library introduces standardized provisions for SLDs to meet the growing market demand for derivatives products linked to environmental, social and governance (ESG) goals, enhancing the commercial viability of SLDs as an effective financial tool to facilitate the delivery of sustainable initiatives.

The last thirty days in September, the end of the US federal government’s fiscal year, is generally an important time to analyze enforcement activity by the US Securities and Exchange Commission and the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission. In this short video, Baker McKenzie Partner Peter Chan, a former SEC Assistant Director of Enforcement, provides his insights regarding the importance of the timing of some of these enforcement actions.

In this update, we take high-level review of major issues faced by private fund managers investing across the globe. In August and September, private fund managers with U.S. investors faced the broadest expansion of SEC regulation since Dodd-Frank, while European managers worked through the details of ESG reporting. Enforcement continued to be laser-focused on digital assets (but courts didn’t always agree with them), Finfluencers, custody and marketing, while new employment and privacy requirements raised unique issues for asset managers.

After nearly 18 months of consideration, the SEC has finalized its Private Fund Adviser Rule. The Rule represents the most significant shift in SEC regulation of private funds since the implementation of Dodd-Frank, and its wide-ranging requirements will affect both US and Non-US Fund Managers (including many entities previously exempt from SEC regulation).

To close out 2022, US states passed a range of rules broadly applicable to all businesses, while global regulators took steps to regulate ESG and crypto-assets comprehensively. While the digital asset industry bore the brunt of enforcement, regulators will give private equity, real estate and hedge fund managers much to think about in 2023.