Securitisation and Structured Finance

Inside Stibbe - We are pleased to announce that Stibbe Amsterdam has promoted Valérie van ‘t Lam, Boris Cammelbeeck and Roderik Vrolijk to partner as per 1 January 2022. These appointments further strengthen our practices Environment & Planning, Real Estate and the Financial Markets Group. Stibbe Amsterdam will grow to 44 partners.

Short Reads - Traditionally, 1 January (and 1 July) each year is a date on which new Dutch financial regulations enter into force. This year, the amendments to the Dutch Financial Supervision Act (Wet op het financieel toezicht – “Wft”) are relatively few, but other notable developments are worthy of attention.

Short Reads - Requirements applicable to outsourcing (including intra-group arrangements as well as outsourcing to the cloud) under Dutch and EU financial regulatory regimes have become more stringent in recent years. Outsourcing has therefore been a priority on the Dutch regulators’ supervision agenda.

Short Reads - Financial institutions may outsource critical or important functions to cloud service providers (“CSPs”). On 25 February 2019 the European Banking Authority (“EBA”) provided guidelines (the “EBA Guidelines”) laying out the framework for outsourcing arrangements. The EBA Guidelines require institutions to have a comprehensive, documented and sufficiently tested exit strategy (including a mandatory exit plan) when they outsource critical or important functions.

Articles - The book, entitled 'Sustainable Finance in Europe', brings together the views of expert academics and practitioners on the latest regulatory developments in sustainable finance in Europe. It includes cutting-edge issues which relate to three main themes: 1. corporate governance, 2. financial stability and 3. financial markets.

Short Reads - A massive stock market rally recently suddenly developed with respect to GameStop’s shares, a moribund chain of video game stores in the United States. The instigators: users of the investment forum r/wallstreetbets on Reddit. On 17 February 2021, the European Securities and Markets Authority delivered its strongest warning yet about the risks of using social media for investing, cautioning that any effort to coordinate trades online could violate EU market abuse regulations.

Articles - The Chambers Banking & Finance 2020 Global Practice Guide covers 34 jurisdictions and discusses the impact of COVID-19, the high-yield market, restrictions on foreign lenders granting loans or security, foreign currency exchange, debt buy-back, withholding tax, guarantees and security, bankruptcy and insolvency, and EHS laws.

Articles - As of 10 March 2021, many financial market participants and financial advisers will be subject to new disclosure obligations following the entry into force of the EU Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR) on 29 December 2019. The SFDR sets rules on transparency with a view to promoting both the integration of sustainability risks into investment processes and disclosures to investors.