<p>Filter Knowledge</p>

UK counterparties to derivatives transactions should note that there is an upcoming filing deadline under UK EMIR.

The Leasehold Reform (Ground Rent) Bill 2021 will prevent landlords in England and Wales from charging ground rents in new leases of residential properties. This is intended to protect tenants from unfair charges, but presents a particular problem in the context of retirement housing.

In this feature article Finance partner Donald Lowe and Associate Michael Leadbeater examine the process of establishing an incremental facility using the steps prescribed by the Loan Market Association’s (LMA) template wording and consider whether it represents common practice in the mid-market.

Tax Senior Associate Sophie Lloyd and Knowledge Counsel Ian Zeider have written an article in a recent edition of Tax Journal, discussing what the Supreme Court's judgment in HMRC v Tooth means for protective assessments. 

In February 2021 Travers Smith and techUK led a webinar which, amongst other issues, examined how the growing need to provide more transparency and possibly to formally report on the use of AI and algorithms could lead to the development of an effective audit and assurance framework. 

The European Market Infrastructure Regulation (EMIR) sets out the requirements for the central clearing of standardised OTC derivatives, the exchange of collateral, post-trade reporting to trade repositories and risk mitigation procedures for non-cleared derivatives. The requirements apply to many stakeholders in the OTC derivatives market in the EU and, prior to Brexit and the expiry of the Brexit transition period, applied to stakeholders in the UK.

Here you will find our series of bite-size guides to derivatives, directed at trustees alone.

This is the first in a series of briefings looking at how Brexit is going, 4 months after the end of the transition period. Here we discuss the current state of UK-EU relations: could they improve and could this bring about improvements in the trading relationship?

The Supreme Court has released its judgment in Tooth, an important case with implications for the law on discovery assessments.

Key employment and business immigration developments for employers.

A regular briefing for the alternative asset management industry. 

Trustees are generally given wide powers of investment in the scheme rules, often expressed to afford trustees the same powers to invest scheme assets as though such assets were owned by the trustees themselves (with certain restrictions, either in the scheme rules or in legislation).

During the pandemic, the UK Government has put legislative measures in place to protect commercial tenants by preventing landlords from using certain remedies such as forfeiture and winding up petitions. However, the legislation does not specifically prevent a landlord from issuing debt claims against its tenants for arrears of rent and other amounts due under a lease (see the recent case of Commerz Real Investmentgesellschaft mbh v TFS Stores Limited [2021] EWHC 863 (Ch)).

Tax Partner Elena Rowlands and Knowledge Counsel Ian Zeider have written an article in a recent edition of Tax Journal, discussing the Finance Bill 2021 and financial institution notices.

On 22 February 2021, the UK Government published its new "Roadmap out of Lockdown" for England,  which could potentially see a "cautious but irreversible" lifting of all legal limits on social contact by 21 June if certain strict conditions are met (the "Roadmap").

In this interview in the Modern Lawyer Journal, Director of Pro Bono, Sam Cottman, discusses his career to date and his priorities since becoming the firm's first Director of Pro Bono in March 2020, as well as giving details of some of the most compelling projects that he is currently working on. 

On 26 April 2021, the Global Anti-Corruption Sanctions Regulations 2021 ("ACSR") came into force in the UK – the second targeted sanctions regime the UK has introduced in under a year. This follows the July 2020 Global Human Rights Sanctions Regulations, which we reported on here.

Earlier this year, we launched a series of webinars on the theme of "Sustainability and alternative asset managers: the new normal".

The International Swaps and Derivatives Association, Inc is the global trade association for OTC derivatives and maintains the industry standard documents for such transactions, namely the 2002 or 1992 Master Agreement, Schedule and credit support documents (the ISDA).