In its continuing effort to keep the BVI Business Companies Act (the “Act”) at the forefront of offshore company law legislation, the BVI Government, in direct consultation with the private sector, has introduced several updates to the Act as follows: To allow weighted voting by directors whereby certain directors may have more than one vote, if specifically provided for in the memorandum or articles of association of the company.

Essential Pensions News covers the latest pensions developments each month in an “at a glance” format. More detail is available by following the link under each summary. Chancellor’s Autumn Statement – no announcement on changes to pensions tax relief until Budget on 16 March 2016 On 25 November 2015, the Chancellor, George Osborne, gave his Autumn Statement and Spending Review speech.

On December 15, 2015, European Union (“EU”) politicians and officials reached a political agreement on a new EU-wide legal framework to govern data sharing and collection and related consumer privacy rights. It is called the General Data Protection Regulation (the “Regulation”) and it will have an extremely significant impact on how businesses collect, store, transfer and use data. The Regulation consists of a rule package of more than 200 pages and represents the biggest update to EU privacy law in two decades.

The sale of a supranational business unit implied in insolvency proceedings in different European countries under the common jurisdiction of a Barcelona Commercial Court. La Seda de Barcelona, S.A. (LSB), a company listed on the Madrid and Barcelona Stock Exchanges, was the parent of a multinational plastic packaging group integrating the whole value chain from the industrial production of PET right through to manufacturing of the preforms used by customers to hold their products, whether soft drinks, water, yoghurts, cleaning products or any other of countless possibilities.

This year provided further examples signifying the end of the IASB and FASB convergence efforts. For some projects, such as leases and insurance, it was already clear that convergence was no longer the main objective in the completion of the project. However, 2015 saw the finality of that decision as the Boards prepared non-converged ballot drafts of their new standards on lease accounting because they were unable to reconcile their views on the lessee accounting model.

Most scheme members are aware that it is possible to take their scheme benefits as cash following the Chancellor’s “freedom and choice” reforms which were implemented mainly under the Pension Schemes Act 2015. This briefing sets out the reforms in terms of the questions a member may ask – the concept is relatively straightforward, but there is obviously a great deal more detail which we cannot include here. Words in italics are defined at the end of the briefing.

In brief: The High Court has ruled that a liquidator has no obligation to retain monies on account of tax until a notice of assessment has been issued. The decision will provide much needed clarity for liquidators and other statutorily deemed trustees, and agents. Partners Charles Armitage and Christopher Prestwich, Senior Tax Counsel Marc Johnston and Associate Jay Prasad report on the decision. Read more.

Evolving Banking Regulation Part Three – Data and technology: The regulatory and business challenges The third paper in the Evolving Banking Regulation series examines data and reporting requirements as well as the cybersecurity risks; likewise the challenges that banks face in meetings these requirements and expectations of the clients, customers and investors along with the demands of regulators.

We are into the second week of the COP21 climate change negotiations in Paris and discussions are moving from political visions and high-level themes around the shift to a low carbon economy into the details of the negotiation text released on Friday. Perhaps not surprisingly, general reactions to the first week of COP21 range from cautious optimism regarding a balanced deal to frustration at on-going difficulties with negotiations.

In Latvia both corporate insolvency and restructuring proceedings are mainly governed by the Insolvency Law adopted in 2010. The law was drafted taking into account recommendations of international creditors of Latvia at that time. In Lithuania insolvency proceedings are regulated by the Law on Insolvency of Companies of the Republic of Lithuania adopted in 2001. Restructurings are regulated by the Law on Restructuring of Companies of the Republic of Lithuania adopted in 2001.