On 20 April 2023, a bill of law was published, approval pending, to amend the Federal Consumer Protection Law to prohibit suppliers of goods, products or services from charging a commission or additional fee to consumers when they use a debit or credit card as a payment method instead of cash. The foregoing is motivated by the fact that this practice of some suppliers is detrimental to the consumers’ economy and discourages the use of debit or credit cards as a payment method.
The Government of Canada recently introduced Part 1 of the budget implementation bill, which completed its second reading before the House of Commons and has been referred to the Standing Committee on Finance. The Bill proposes novel amendments, including “deemed ownership” provisions to the Special Economic Measures Act and the Justice for Victims of Corrupt Foreign Officials Act and it demonstrates that the Government intends to rely on existing anti-money laundering enforcement regimes to eliminate sanctions circumvention and enforce sanctions compliance. Additionally, the Bill seeks to expand the Government’s authority to prohibit activities with specific persons under the SEMA.
On 25 November 2021, the European Commission published its long-awaited proposals to amend the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (AIFMD), along with changes proposed to the UCITS Directive and ELTIF Regulation (AIFMD II). The Commission’s proposals follow ESMA’s August 2020 letter of recommendations for changes that could be made to the AIFMD framework. Tripartite negotiations on AIFMD II are ongoing, following agreement by the Council of the EU on its general approach in June 2022, and adoption by the European Parliament’s Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee of its negotiating position in January 2023.
This event will be held on Wednesday, 24 May 2023 from 14:30-16:00 hrs. (Bangkok time) via Zoom and YouTube Live. This exclusive webinar presented by our professionals will explore: (i) overview of the legal issues surrounding digital onboarding process, (ii) key concepts of the Anti-Money Laundering / Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) laws and specific regulations governing digital onboarding, (iii) key concepts of technology laws and regulations relating to digital onboarding, and (iv) case study: an end-to-end flow of the digital onboarding process for FinTech businesses. The webinar will be conducted in Thai.
On 20 April 2023, the Central Bank of Argentina issued Communication “A” 7746 introducing modifications to the access to the foreign exchange market for the payment of certain services abroad. Communication “A” 7746 determines that the prior approval of such entity will be required to make certain payments abroad, provides a term of 180 calendar days for the sworn statements for transactions with securities, and extends the list of persons and entities that may access a special remunerated account based on the evolution of the reference exchange rate of Communication “A” 3500.
Singapore High Court in Rio Christofle v Malcolm Tan Chun Chuen [2023] SGHC 66 concludes that the bona fide buying and selling of cryptocurrency without a licence or exemption is not to be a contravention of licensing provisions where there is no “carrying on a business of providing any type of payment service”. Three indicia suggest that a person is carrying on a business of providing a payment service: (1) whether profit has been made; (2) the number of transactions in question; and (3) whether the person is acting as an intermediary.
AI has permeated much of the financial industry and significantly changed some aspects of how its businesses operate. Not as radical transformation of the industry, however, but as a steady trickle of new technologies and applications across the sector. Considerable risks also remain, as does uncertainty about regulatory approaches to AI. Baker McKenzie spoke with four experts to explore how AI use is likely to evolve in the financial industry in the years to come.
The South African Department of Finance has published Directive 8 on the compulsory screening of employees for competence and integrity. Failure to comply means that such businesses will risk sanction, including a fine of up to ZAR 50 million. Accountable institutions must record how the screening has been conducted and keep records of the outcome of such screening, which must be made available to the Financial Intelligence Centre upon request. It has been stipulated that screenings should begin as soon as possible.
On 11 April 2023, the Argentine Securities and Exchange Commission (CNV) issued General Resolution No. 957/2023 to modify the minimum holding periods in the portfolio of securities with settlement in foreign currency prior to the execution of sale transactions.
On 4 August 2022, the Consumer Credit Oversight Board Task Force issued the first of a two-part consultation paper to the Consumer Credit Act (CCA) to obtain feedback from interested parties and members of the public on the proposed enactment of the CCA.
The Task Force has now issued the second public consultation paper. The public consultation period on the second paper will close on 15 May 2023.
The feedback from the consultation paper will be considered ahead of the anticipated CCA being passed into law by the end of 2023.