On May 24, 2018, President Trump signed into law the first major financial services reform bill since the enactment of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (the “Dodd-Frank Act”) in 2010.  The Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act (the “Reform Law”) is not a wholesale repeal of the Dodd-Frank Act, but it does modify or eliminate certain burdensome requirements on community and regional banks and nonbank financial institutions in particular.

In this week's newsletter, we provide a snapshot of the principal U.S., European and global financial regulatory developments of interest to banks, investment firms, broker-dealers, market infrastructure providers, asset managers and corporates.

May 11, 2018 marked the compliance date for the Customer Due Diligence Requirements for Financial Institutions rule issued by the U.S. Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”) on May 11, 2016 (the “CDD Rule”).

Any company anywhere in the world which holds personal identifying information about EU resident private individuals will be impacted. Individuals covered by the regime may include prospective, existing and former customers, employees, contractors, contacts at suppliers or customers and marketing contacts.

In this newsletter, we provide a snapshot of the principal Asian, U.S., European and selected international governance and securities law developments of interest to Asian corporates and financial institutions.

In this week's newsletter, we provide a snapshot of the principal U.S., European and global financial regulatory developments of interest to banks, investment firms, broker-dealers, market infrastructure providers, asset managers and corporates.

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (the “Act”) made significant changes to U.S. federal tax law. One of these changes was the establishment of a new tax regime relating to qualified opportunity zones (“Opportunity Zones”) under Sections 1400Z-1 and 1400Z-2 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Code”), to encourage private investment in distressed communities throughout the United States. Investors that wish to defer capital gains recognized upon a sale or exchange of an asset to an unrelated  party on or prior to December 31, 2026 can invest that gain in a Qualified Opportunity Fund (QOF), which in turn invests in so-called “qualified opportunity zone property.” This newsletter will discuss the current status of the Opportunity Zone program, the tax benefits associated with investing in QOFs, what qualifies as qualified opportunity zone property and issues relevant to sponsors in connection with the formation of QOFs.

On April 26, 2018, Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Chairman J. Christopher Giancarlo and Chief Economist Bruce Tuckman published a white paper on potential reforms to the CFTC’s swaps trading rules.

On April 20, 2018, the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit split from five other circuit courts in Varjabedian v. Emulex Corp., No. 16-55088 (9th Cir. Apr. 20, 2018), by holding that claims under Section 14(e) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 require only a showing of negligence rather than intent to defraud.

Counsel Helen Cook (Washington, D.C.-Project Development & Finance) has authored the 2nd edition of The Law of Nuclear Energy, published by Sweet and Maxwell. Since the publication of the 1st edition in August 2013, there have been multiple legal developments impacting the global civil nuclear sector, all of which are examined in the 2nd edition.