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International Edition

A Huawei backlash? China's new security regime for foreign deals bodes ill for Western lawyers

Last month, leading Chinese networking equipment maker Huawei Technologies bowed to a recommendation by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the US (CFIUS) and withdrew its attempt to purchase $2m (£1.24m) worth of server patents from California's 3Leaf Systems. The inter-agency CFIUS, charged with reviewing transactions for national security risks, had voiced concern about Huawei's possible ties to the Chinese military. Similar concerns killed Huawei's 2008 attempt to buy a stake in networking company 3Com, which was later acquired by Hewlett-Packard. In February, the Chinese company released an open letter asking the US Government to conduct a formal investigation to dispel the "rumours and misperceptions" that Huawei somehow posed a threat to US national security.
4 minute read

International Edition

A&O signs up Norton Rose banking regulation team in Frankfurt

Allen & Overy (A&O) has bulked up its German arm with the hire of a banking regulation and investment funds team from Norton Rose led by partner Frank Herring. Herring is set to join A&O in Frankfurt on 1 April from Norton Rose along with three associates. He currently heads Norton Rose's Frankfurt banking regulation and investment funds practice.
2 minute read

International Edition

SFO fraud head joins US firm's City arm in third recent London departure

Arnold & Porter has become the third US firm this year to hire a senior lawyer from the Serious Fraud Office (SFO), bringing in fraud group head Kathleen Harris. Harris, who will join the US firm as a partner in June, will become a part of Arnold & Porter's City white collar criminal defence team. In her role at the SFO, Harris oversaw all fraud cases, and monitored changes in the body's critical policy function.
2 minute read

International Edition

Herbert Smith's former Euro alliance relationship partner moves in-house

Herbert Smith's former European alliance relationship partner Henry Raine has left the firm to take up an in-house regulatory role at online loan company Wonga.com. Raine has been a consultant at Herbert Smith since April last year, when he stepped down from the partnership. His responsibilities in managing the firm's relationship with alliance partners Gleiss Lutz and Stibbe were primarily taken on by David Willis as part of his managing partner role.
2 minute read

International Edition

SRA restructuring set to see total staff numbers cut by 13%

The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has announced an organisational restructuring which will see total staff numbers cut by 13%. Under the proposals, the SRA will have around 560 staff in post by the end of the year, compared with the current workforce of 640, with staff informed of the news at briefings given by the regulator's senior management team yesterday (14 February). The numbers refer to full-time equivalent roles. The body said the overhaul comes in preparation for the introduction of outcomes-focused regulation and the licensing of Alternative Business Structures, due to come into effect from 6 October this year.
3 minute read

International Edition

A watching brief - the challenges facing the Bar Standards Board

The Bar Standards Board (BSB) has come a long way since its inception in 2006 when the Bar Council split off its regulatory arm from its representative function. But with the profession entering its most challenging period yet, as Government spending cuts take their toll and the Legal Services Act (LSA) comes into effect, the BSB is facing its most crucial test to date. After the watchdog celebrated its fifth birthday last month, the question being asked is how the BSB will cope with the changes ahead to regulate the profession successfully. As the regulator for barristers in England and Wales, the BSB takes responsibility for setting the education and training standards of barristers throughout their careers as well as monitoring their quality and conduct. With the LSA bringing about fundamental changes to the profession, not least to its culture, by allowing barristers to form partnerships and join forces with solicitors, it is clear that the regulator must evolve once more.
13 minute read

International Edition

Pinsents signs up Winston & Strawn Bootlaw bloggers for London office

Pinsent Masons has boosted its regulatory capabilities ahead of the implementation of the Bribery Act with the hire of Winston & Strawn partner Barry Vitou. Vitou joined the UK firm's London office as a partner earlier this week from the City arm of Winston, where he headed up the regulatory and technology practice. He will work closely with Pinsents' outsourcing technology and commercial group head Clive Seddon.
2 minute read

International Edition

FSA secures another high-profile conviction for insider dealing

The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has secured a high-profile prosecution against a former Dresdner investment banker for insider dealing, in the latest crackdown on market abuse by the City regulator. Christian Littlewood has been sentenced to three years and four months in prison for eight counts of insider trading which occurred between 2000 and 2008 during his employment at Dresdner and most recently Shore Capital. During this time he accrued a total of £590,000 in relation to the charged offences.
3 minute read

International Edition

A team of two - why GCs and chief compliance officers must work in tandem

The role of the chief compliance (and ethics) officer (CCO) is currently a hot, if confused topic. What does she do - ensure good process or enforce strict compliance? To whom does she report - general counsel/chief financial officer or to chief executive officer/board? What is her role in shaping the company's voluntary adoption of ethical standards beyond what the law requires? This issue has been thrust into high relief by regulators and enforcers who, in light of various scandals, want a more independent compliance function in corporations. For example, changes in the US federal sentencing guidelines would give corporations extra credit if the "specific individual" in the corporation with "day-to-day operational responsibility for the compliance and ethics programme" has direct access to the board of directors.
9 minute read

International Edition

Offshore: Keeping quiet

Like other well-regulated jurisdictions, Guernsey's money laundering regime requires, in broad terms, that when a financial services business (FSB) suspects that one of its clients may be involved in money laundering, it must make a suspicious transaction report (otherwise known as an STR) to the Financial Intelligence Service (FIS), a joint unit of the Guernsey Police and Customs & Immigration Department tasked with receiving and analysing STRs. Common sense suggests that the utility of the STR would be greatly reduced if the FSB, as the same time as making an STR, could inform the client that it had done so. The client could then act to frustrate any potential action which might be taken by the FIS. For that reason, the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) Financial Action Task Force (FATF), among its 40 recommendations, included a recommendation (number 14) that businesses should be prohibited by law from disclosing the fact that an STR had been made.
8 minute read

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