<p>Filter Knowledge</p>

A regular briefing for the alternative asset management industry. 

A regular briefing for the alternative asset management industry. 

A regular briefing for the alternative asset management industry. 

The Alpha and Omega of Regulation (via Omicron)?

Having said goodbye to another year of headlines dominated by COVID-19, with a Christmas and New Year overshadowed by a mixture of good and bad news about Omicron, it's not yet clear what degree of optimism about the year ahead is justified. At the very least, it is to be hoped that the World Health Organisation will not find it has to exhaust the Greek alphabet in naming any future new variants of concern.

Discrimination by association occurs where an employee is discriminated against, not because of a protected characteristic they have, but because of a characteristic of someone they associate with, for example a disabled spouse or child. This case shows how far the protection can potentially extend.

A regular briefing for the alternative asset management industry. 

This briefing was first published in July 2021 and updated in November 2021. 

A regular briefing for the alternative asset management industry. 

A regular briefing for the alternative asset management industry. 

"Sustainable finance" continues to dominate the legal and financial agenda for many asset managers at the moment, driven by multiple factors, including an emphasis on the climate crisis and an influx of legislation, particularly from the European Union, mandating financial organisations to demonstrate their sustainability credentials.

On 9 August 2021, Working Group I of the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change  ("IPCC") presented its report on the physical science basis of climate change (the "Report"), the first of three parts that will together form the IPCC's Sixth Assessment Report ("AR6"), due to be released in full in spring 2022.

In this session from the PLSA's inaugural ESG Conference (July 2021), Pensions Partner Andy Lewis, Partner and Head of Financial Services and Markets Tim Lewis and Senior Consultant Simon Witney discuss key questions that can arise for pension schemes looking develop their ESG policies and beliefs and translate these into practical action. How can schemes fit these specific regulations into the bigger picture of their overall duties and operations without getting lost in the detail?

On 2 August 2021 various amending measures were published in the EU Official Journal which will require EU Alternative Investment Fund Managers, EU UCITS management companies and EU MiFID investment firms (including portfolio managers and adviser/arrangers) to integrate sustainability risks and factors into their policies and procedures.

The European Commission has published its long-awaited guidance regarding some of the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation's (SFDR) known unknowns. The Guidance provides some additional clarity on the application of the SFDR, but unfortunately does not clearly answer all the outstanding questions.

Firms will need to continue to navigate uncertainty in the absence of clear law, guidance or a developed market practice.

A regular briefing for the alternative asset management industry. 

We recently held our third webinar in the series "Sustainability and alternative asset managers: the new normal".

The regulatory technical standards supplementing the EU Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (EU SFDR)—which had been expected to apply from 1 January 2022—will be delayed by six months until 1 July 2022.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak has hinted that new sustainability reporting requirements are on the horizon for pension schemes, financial services firms and their investment products.

On 1 July, which marks the 10th anniversary of the UK's Bribery Act coming into force, the Serious Fraud Office ("SFO") secured court approval for a Deferred Prosecution Agreement ("DPA") with Amec Foster Wheeler Energy Limited ("AFWEL"). This latest DPA concludes yet another significant multi-year corruption probe and highlights the importance of continued ABC compliance measures for multinational organisations.