40th IBA International Financial Law Conference
07 May - 09 May 2025
Oslo
,
Norway
The panel explored the complexities of debt-to-equity swaps as a financial restructuring tool and its success and limitations in enhancing a debtor's balance sheet by converting lenders’ claims into equity securities in several jurisdictions.
Released on
Dec 12, 2024
This article delves into the foundational elements of reverse solicitation, exploring its regulatory basis and implications in the Italian context, as well as its alignment with evolving EU standards.
Released on
Dec 11, 2024
This panel session on individual accountability for directors and managers in banks and other financial institutions explored the benefits and drawbacks in terms of individual accountability laws and regulations, which aim to prevent misconduct by financial institutions by holding directors and managers responsible for failures in their area of responsibility. The speakers discussed the different approaches and challenges in their respective jurisdictions, as well as the best practices to minimise liability.
Released on
Nov 22, 2024
Commercial paper is a short-term debt instrument issued by companies. It’s typically used to raise funds quickly for various purposes, such as financing working capital needs, funding short-term projects or covering temporary cash flow shortages to finance short-term liabilities, such as augmenting working capital, fulfilling temporary cash flow gaps and addressing immediate financial obligations. Investors seeking a safe and short-term investment option often find commercial paper attractive due to its relatively low risk and competitive returns compared to other short-term investments.
Released on
Nov 20, 2024
Projects and reports
Good Practice Principles for Cross-Border Closing Opinions
(The Legal Opinion Committee of the Business Law Section of the American Bar Association and the IBA Banking & Financial Law Committee)
The Legal Opinion Committee of the Business Law Section of the American Bar Association (ABA) and the Banking & Financial Law Committee of the International Bar Association (IBA) have formed a joint task force on cross-border opinion practice (the ‘Task Force’). The Task Force seeks to: (1) build upon work done under the auspices of the ABA, the IBA, the Union International des Avocats and the City of London Law Society; and (2) to collaborate with a number of other bar groups in various countries to improve the practices of lawyers throughout the world relating to the giving of, and advising recipients of, closing opinions in cross-border transactions. The ABA and the IBA have undertaken these efforts to help the legal profession remain a constructive contributor to global finance and commerce, and hopefully, to aid the flow of capital across borders, particularly to emerging economies. This document seeks to establish foundational principles on closing opinions in cross-border finance transactions.
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Fintech: how is the world shaping the financial innovation industry? (2024)
In recent years, financial technology (fintech) has rapidly expanded worldwide, forcing traditional financial institutions to evolve in response to this innovative manner of conducting business in the financial industry. Today, we continue to witness the significant impact of fintech on global markets, as it reshapes the financial landscape. Looking ahead, the evolution of fintech promises to further challenge and transform existing frameworks, requiring continuous adaptation and regulatory foresight.
In 2023, the IBA Banking & Financial Law Committee launched an extensive research project aimed at dissecting and understanding the diverse legal frameworks that govern fintech around the globe. This original study covered 39 countries, providing a comprehensive overview of how different jurisdictions are navigating the complexities of fintech regulation.
Through this new edition, the project has been extended to 61 countries across different regions: Africa, Asia-Pacific, Central America, Europe, Latin America and North America. The project contains analysis of how different countries regulate fintech companies and looks at the existence of specific legal frameworks applicable to crypto assets. It also assesses how different jurisdictions around the globe regulate payment service providers and digital wallets and features an overview of special programmes supporting fintech ecosystems. Lastly, the report covers how jurisdictions regulate and deal with matters relating to open banking.
The report has been coordinated by Carlos M Melhem, Treasurer of the IBA Banking & Financial Law Committee and a partner at Allende & Brea in Buenos Aires; Matias Langevin, Young Lawyers’ Committee Liaison Officer of the IBA Banking & Financial Law Committee and a partner at HD Legal in Santiago; Lukasz Szgeda, Academic Liaison Officer of the IBA Banking & Financial Law Committee and a partner at Wardynski & Partners in Warsaw; and Rafael Aguilera, Real Estate Section Liaison Officer of the IBA Banking & Financial Law Committee and a partner at Gómez-Acebo & Pombo in Madrid.
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Covid-19 emergency measures relating to funding and claims recovery
In 2020 the Covid-19 crisis struck economies worldwide and triggered an unprecedented set of emergency measures to financially support private companies and consumers, mitigate the impact of the outbreak on financial contracts and payment obligations and avoid systemic insolvencies. In this context, the IBA Banking Law Committee undertook a comprehensive survey of those measures across a selection of jurisdictions from Africa, Asia, Europe, North and South America, jointly representing a material part of the global economy.
The review provides a comparative description of measures under a standard grid of questions around four themes: (1) emergency funding through state guaranteed loans and sectorial support; (2) relaxation of regulatory requirements for lenders; (3) stay/rescheduling of statutory time periods and of contractual obligations, and temporary changes to insolvency and (4) work out frameworks.
The survey is meant to assist practitioners in understanding risk patterns, trends, challenges and opportunities and preparing for adjustments in their fields of practice from a domestic and international perspective. Going further, it is expected to be a reference base to explore new paradigms in banking and finance that may emerge out of the Covid-19 crisis, and their impact on banking and financial services, markets, and players.
The report has been coordinated by Jean-François Adelle, a partner at Jeantet AARPI Paris and Klaus Löber, Head of Oversight at the European Central Bank. IBA Banking Law Committee officers and members in 30 jurisdictions have contributed to the report.
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Impact investing: the rise of impact – a lawyer's perspective from a business outlook
A taskforce on the rise of impact and the role of lawyers (the 'Task Force') was created in 2020. The objective of the Taskforce is to produce a set of practical guidelines and recommendations related to impact investing (the 'Guidelines and Recommendations'). These are being developed by business lawyers, addressed to clients who intend to attract investors such as BlackRock to their companies by:
- understanding not only technical legal issues but also the overall context, the changing paradigms and the need for flexibility, sustainability and stakeholder inclusion, where companies are accountable not only for generating profits but also for creating positive social and environmental impacts;
- infusing ethics into the decision-making process, weighing legal risks and protecting the company’s interests; and
- becoming strategic facilitators of an organisation’s growth.
As part of this work, the Task Force has outlined a very practical case, where a client holding of several leading companies in various industries, with operations in many countries and shares listed in the most important exchanges, has entered into an agreement with an investor that intends to make its investment in tranches, provided the company undertakes to deal effectively with the environmental, social and governance (ESG) aspects of its businesses, with milestones to be met in the short and long term.
The Guidelines and Recommendations focus on the fundraising and corporate governance aspects of the practical case mentioned above.
In December 2020, the Final Consolidated Recommendations from the Smart Governance Working Group were presented to the IBA. The conclusions of the work were discussed at the IBA 2020 Virtually Together Conference during the IBA Showcase session: The rise of impact – a lawyer's perspective from a business outlook, which took place on Tuesday 17 November 2020.
Securitisations - challenges and hurdles for a rebirth of securitisations
Subcommittees and other groups
The Banking & Financial Law Committee also coordinates the activities of the following subcommittees/working groups.
- AI Banking and Financial Subcommittee
- Alternative Finance Subcommittee
- Banking & Financial Law Committee Advisory Board
- Banking Regulation Subcommittee
- Clearing and Settlement of Financial Securities Subcommittee
- Derivatives Subcommittee
- Finance in Emerging Countries Subcommittee
- Financial and Banking Law Conferences Subcommittee
- Financial Innovations Subcommittee
- Innovations in Financing Transactions Subcommittee
- International Financial Law Reform Subcommittee
- Islamic Finance Subcommittee
- Legal Opinions Subcommittee
- Project Finance Subcommittee
- Structured Finance Subcommittee
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