Archive: May 2024

In this webinar, our global crypto regulation team will delve into the critical aspects of Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA), a new landmark piece of European legislation that is due to become applicable at the end of 2024, and explain its importance to crypto-asset firms operating in Asia but looking to provide services to EU clients. Whether you’re a crypto-asset service provider, issuer, or investor, this session will provide valuable insights on navigating this broad-ranging regime. We will also use this session to flag key cross-border issues in the upcoming UK regime for crypto-assets.

It was a pleasure to attend the latest series of policy roundtables hosted by the Financial Conduct Authority as the industry looks to collaborate on the possible routes forward regarding the expansion of the UK regulatory regime to trading venues and other cryptoassets “intermediaries”.

In February 2024, the UK Department for Science, Innovation, and Technology (DSIT) set out the government’s proposed approach to AI regulation. It published a response to its consultation on its 2023 white paper, ‘A pro innovation approach to AI regulation’ (the White Paper). DSIT confirmed that, for the time being, the UK will follow its proposed approach of setting cross-sectoral principles to be enforced by existing regulators rather than passing new legislation to regulate AI.

The insurance industry is founded on predicting, as accurately as possible, whether or not a risk will materialize in a fast-moving competitive environment. Such predictions are intensively focused on data.

2023 was a challenging year for global FinTech M&A and investment. Intense macroeconomic and geopolitical headwinds led to investor caution. The result was that the sector experienced the lowest levels of M&A and investment activity since 2017, both in terms of deal value and volume.

The United States Federal Government is turning its attention to privacy and cybersecurity laws, and the result has been several recent legal developments that may have an impact on your business. Keeping up with these developments is not easy, so we’ve created a fun way to test your knowledge of the same.

After a lacklustre finish to 2022 when compared to the vintage year for M&A that was 2021, dealmakers expected 2023 to see the market continue to cool in most sectors, in response to the economic headwinds of rising inflation (with its corresponding impact on financing costs), declining market valuations, tightening regulatory scrutiny and increasing geopolitical tensions. Hopes remained high, however, for deal activity in the perennially active TMT sector, which was expected to capitalise on the ever-increasing digitalisation and connectivity requirements of businesses and consumers alike.