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The case involves substantive litigation that could yield important legal principles for the treatment of decentralised projects.

By Dominic Geiser, Simon Hawkins, Sam Maxson, and Truman Mak

Decentralised autonomous organisations (DAO) are unique structures that operate autonomously in accordance with preset rules, utilising a blockchain and coordinated through a distributed consensus model. Whilst numerous DAOs are operating in the blockchain industry, these organisations are still new in legal terms and their precise legal status (including ownership and…

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The FAQs aim to clarify key aspects of the CSRD, including the scope of the rules, compliance dates, and exemptions.

By Paul A. Davies, Axel Schiemann, Michael D. Green, James Bee, and Lasse Winzer

On 7 August 2024, the European Commission (Commission) published a set of frequently asked questions (FAQs) on the interpretation of certain provisions of the EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD). The FAQs aim to facilitate compliance and ensure the usability and comparability…

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The proposals form a package of measures designed to promote UK capital raising.

By Mark Austin, Chris Horton, James Inness, Anna Ngo, and Johannes Poon

On 26 July 2024, the FCA published consultation papers on a new public offers and admissions to trading regime to replace the existing UK Prospectus Regulation, and on proposals to establish public offer platforms (POPs) as a new mechanism for raising scale-up capital. These proposals form part of a package…

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Private capital providers, investors, asset managers, and financial institutions will likely continue to face a fragmented regulatory landscape on ESG matters.

By Betty M. Huber, Matthew Green, Henry Miller, Austin J. Pierce, Catherine G. Willis, and Sam Wong

Various US states have taken and continue to take action on ESG investing and other matters, with new variants emerging regularly. Some of the state bills, laws, and actions overlap thematically, and indeed some are based on…

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The first-ever SFO offence to be tried by a jury in the CFI emphasises the SFC’s commitment to prosecuting market misconduct through various enforcement powers.

By Dominic Geiser, Truman Mak, Evangeline Tsui, and Charlotte Wong

The Hong Kong Court of First Instance (CFI) has convicted three individuals of conspiracy to carry out false trading in the shares of a listed company, Ching Lee Holdings Limited (CLHL). This is the first time that an offence under the Securities and Futures Ordinance (SFO) has been tried by a jury in the CFI.

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Guidelines indicate when asset managers may legitimately use ESG or sustainability-related terms in their fund names.

By Nicola Higgs, Laura Ferrell, and Charlotte Collins

On 14 May 2024, ESMA published its final Guidelines on funds’ names using ESG- or sustainability-related terms. The Guidelines aim to address the risk of funds’ names misleading investors by ensuring that their names can be supported in a material way by evidence of sustainability characteristics or objectives that are reflected fairly and consistently in the fund’s investment objectives and policy.

ESMA originally consulted on the Guidelines in November 2022 (see this blog post), but finalisation has been delayed while reviews of the AIFMD and UCITS Directive were completed. Notably, ESMA received substantive feedback on the consultation and made several amendments to the Guidelines accordingly.

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The SFC exercises its powers to order the suspension of trading in shares in a listed company to protect investors’ interests.

By Dominic Geiser, Truman Mak, Evangeline Tsui, and Charlotte Wong

On 15 April 2024, The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited (SEHK) suspended trading in the shares of Tianyun International Holdings Limited (Company) pursuant to directions from the Securities and Futures Commission of Hong Kong (SFC). In ordering the suspension, the SFC exercised its powers under section 8(1) of the Securities and Futures (Stock Market Listing) Rules (SMLR), which empowers the SFC to make such directions to maintain an orderly and fair market and protect the investing public’s interests.

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This latest example of strategic coordination between Hong Kong regulators confirms a broader regulatory mission and shared objectives.

By Dominic Geiser, Truman Mak, Evangeline Tsui, and Charlotte Wong

On 5 March 2024, the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKEx) issued a Statement of Disciplinary Action (Statement) against two former directors (the Former Directors) of a company listed on the Growth Enterprise Market (GEM) of the HKEx for misappropriating company funds during the listing process. The disciplinary action followed efforts by the HKEx and the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) to investigate the directors, and highlights strategic coordination on enforcement actions on IPO-related misconduct. The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) also provided assistance.

Implementation of Basel Committee cryptoassets standard to provide additional clarity for banks looking to engage in cryptoassets business.

By Simon Hawkins and Adrian Fong

On 7 February 2024, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) released a consultation paper on its proposal for implementing new regulations on the prudential treatment of cryptoasset exposures (Consultation Paper).

The Consultation Paper comes shortly after the Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau and the HKMA issued a consultation paper in December 2023 outlining their legislative proposal for a regulatory regime governing stablecoin issuers in Hong Kong (see this Latham blog post). On 20 February 2024, the HKMA also published guidance on digital asset custody services and sale and distribution of tokenised products conducted by banks. Together, these papers offer guidance and greater certainty to banks interested in providing digital asset services (including digital asset issuance, custody, and dealing services).