The EU Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive exempts financial institutions from due diligence to identify, mitigate and remedy potential adverse impacts, whether human rights or environmental, in their downstream “chain of activities”. In practice, however, it will be hard to escape entirely, not least as the sector will still need to adopt and implement transition plans.

As background, green and sustainability-linked bonds and loans have been the pioneer products in this space. Following their evolution over a number of recent years, they are now well-established financing products commonly used to finance the energy transition. However, transition finance is emerging as the requirements for green and sustainability-linked financing products are often not met in the context of high-emitting, hard-to-abate sectors looking to reduce emissions

In this edition of Bite-size Briefings, we take a bite-size look at the latest developments concerning AI regulation as it affects financial services in Australia, the EU, Hong Kong SAR, Thailand, the UK and the US.

Baker McKenzie’s newest sustainability briefing focuses on the hot topic of transition finance, which is relevant to lenders and borrowers in commercial and syndicated lending. In the context of publications by industry and standard setting bodies such as the Glasgow Financial Alliance for net zero and experience in the market, the briefing discusses: transition finance, credible transition plans, risks and challenges and market progress.

A series of briefings that take a bite-size look at international trends in different jurisdictions, drawing on Baker McKenzie’s expert financial services practitioners with local market knowledge. This edition takes a bite-size look at the latest environment, social and governance developments in Brazil, the European Union, Belgium, Hong Kong SAR, Japan, Singapore, Thailand, and the United Kingdom.

This edition of Bite-size Briefings explores the regulation of crypto (or digital) assets across a number of jurisdictions: Australia, Brazil, Hong Kong SAR, Singapore, the UK and the US.

A series of briefings that take a ‘bite-size’ look at international trends in financial services regulation, drawing on the expertise of Baker McKenzie’s experienced practitioners located across the globe. Insight | Legal Alert Bite-size Briefings: Culture and Conduct A series of briefings that take a “bite-size” look at international trends…

In addition to the human tragedy, COVID-19 challenges the financial sector’s operating and business models and engages a wide range of law and regulation. As organizations strive to maintain business continuity and protect their workforce, they will face competing legal and regulatory pressures, particularly those operating on a cross-border basis,…

Regulators around the world are responding quickly to the rapidly evolving financial technology, or fintech, landscape. As new or emerging financial products, services or delivery channels may not meet all regulatory requirements, financial regulators internationally have implemented fintech regulatory sandbox regimes as a solution. A sandbox allows financial institutions (FI)…

The UK’s financial regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority, has issued a “Call for Input” in respect of its vision to extend Open Banking to financial services more generally (under the label of Open Finance). Unlike Open Banking, which is concerned with bank accounts and payment services only, the impact of…