Co-Chairs' note - Banking Law Committee, May 2020
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Michael Steen Jensen
Co-Chair, IBA Banking Law Committee
Benedikt Maurenbrecher
Co-Chair, IBA Banking Law Committee
benedikt.maurenbrecher@homburger.ch
Dear members of the IBA Banking Law Committee,
I hope this eBulletin finds you in good health. We are living in unprecedented times and facing unexpected challenges, both as lawyers and as people.
From a financial perspective, financial institutions must deal with two new challenges in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic, as the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision has pointed out. The first is financial and involves addressing and mitigating the decrease in value of financial assets or loss of liquidity. The second challenge is operational, and involves addressing the risk that resources – ie, people, processes, technology, facilities and information – will fail to perform their services.
In order to ensure that financial institutions and the market remain resilient in these changing circumstances, financial regulators are issuing guidance to help financial institutions address these challenges, given that the response of financial institutions has implications for the provision of the financial services that support the economy.
The articles collected here cover an array of subjects and jurisdictions, including some analysis in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, from the interpretation of ‘force majeure’ in Mauritian banking law to how Brazilian authorities are trying to tackle the consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic in the financial system. Other articles cover different topics, such as the recent Argentinian regulation on payment service providers; developments in the Brazilian Fintech environment; the main aspects of the regime in the Luxembourg financial sector in light of professional secrecy rules; the civil liability of the financial industry with respect to cum-ex transactions in Germany; and sustainable lending and green finance.
The articles can be accessed by clicking on the links below and then read on the IBA website. You will need to log in to read the articles; if you’ve forgotten your log-in details, please click here.
The publication of this eBulletin was intended to coincide with the start of the 37th IBA International Financial Law Conference, which was to take place in Venice from 13-15 May 2020. Due to the current circumstances and the uncertainty surrounding the Covid-19 outbreak, the IBA unfortunately had to take the decision to postpone the scheduled conference until 26-29 May 2021. We hope that the 4th IBA Asia-based International Financial Law Conference, in Tokyo, from 25-27 November 2020, may be the next opportunity to meet in person.
The Committee hopes to send a further eBulletin featuring more content between July and September. Until then, we wish readers the best of luck in the coming weeks.
Kind regards,
Michael Steen Jensen & Benedikt Maurenbrecher
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