Our knowledge resources reflect the breadth and depth of our expertise, our insight into the issues which matter to your business, and our understanding of the markets in which you operate.
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).
A regular briefing for the alternative asset management industry.
Derivatives are contracts between two parties where the value of that contract derives from an underlying asset referenced by the contract. This explains why there is a lot of jargon around certain types of derivatives but once you break them down, most derivatives contracts are not particularly complex.
On 22 and 23 April 2021, US President Joe Biden hosted a global two-day international climate summit to formally mark the US' return to the Paris Agreement (the "Climate Summit"). The Climate Summit's focus was on starting conversations around how to address the climate crisis in practice, including emission reductions, carbon trading, finance, innovation and job creation, in advance of more formal talks at COP26 later this year. It was the first time in four years that the US government has hosted a major international climate discussion, sending a strong signal to the rest of the world that the US is serious again about tackling climate change.
A large and growing part of our practice is advising DB pension scheme trustees on investment matters. Trustees are under increasing pressure to de-risk, especially with the requirement (in the Pension Schemes Act 2021) for trustees to set a long-term funding and investment strategy.
On 20 April the UK Government announced that it would significantly increase its climate ambition, ahead of the COP26 international climate summit in Glasgow in November. The UK's Climate Change Act commits it to net zero by 2050, and it recently adopted a new Nationally Determined Contribution ("NDC") under the Paris Agreement of 68% reduction against 1990 levels by 2030.
A regular briefing for the alternative asset management industry.
Schemes that have been using fiduciary management services for some time may face a 9 June 2021 deadline for putting those services out to tender or retender. Other schemes already using such services are subject to later deadlines.
COP26 is the 26th session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The summit will be attended by the heads of state of the countries that signed the UNFCCC, as well as a variety of climate experts and campaigners, in order to agree and accelerate action on the Paris Agreement. The UK, in partnership with Italy, is hosting the summit this year in Glasgow from 1 - 12 November 2021 after it was delayed by a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The UK is centre stage in the lead up to COP26. As host, the UK will be tasked with trying to build consensus at the summit to ensure its success, but there has already been some criticism of the UK's approach to COP26 from certain stakeholders.
While the Paris Agreement certainly represents the most important part of the international effort to alleviate the impact of climate change, there is also increasing recognition that the business world needs to play a central role in meeting net zero, as industrial activities are the biggest contributor to rising temperatures on the planet. The World Bank estimates that $4 trillion of finance needs to be mobilised annually to invest in mitigation and resilience in the Global South, and most of this needs to be financed by the private sector.
To help you keep on top of legal developments relevant to alternative asset managers, we have created a checklist that pulls the key ones together. Our checklist highlights each development, providing a brief description and setting out the next steps.
Of particular interest to many parties will be the cessation of 26 of the 35 LIBOR benchmark tenors immediately after 31 December 2021.
The recommendations of Lord Hill's UK Listing Review were published yesterday, 3 March. The review, which was launched in November 2020, considers the efficiency, attractiveness, and competitiveness of the post-Brexit UK Listing Regime.
BNP Paribas, the largest bank in France, has announced today that it will no longer finance firms who produce, or buy, beef or soybeans from land in the Amazon that was cleared or converted after 2008 (and will encourage its clients not to produce or buy beef or soybeans from cleared or converted land in the Cerrado after 1 January 2020).
The sustainability agenda is inevitably resulting in a wave of new regulation for alternative asset managers as well as the wider business community, a trend which looks set to continue in the coming years.
A regular briefing for the alternative asset management industry.