The Freshfields Podcast

Essential Foreign Investment #1: CFIUS, China and Europe’s new screening regime

In the first of a new quarterly series, partner Alastair Mordaunt is joined by CFIUS advisor Colin Costello and EU FDI practitioners Ermelinda Spinelli and Rocío de Troya to discuss developments in foreign investment review. How will national security deal screening evolve under President Biden? How is the EU’s new FDI regime being applied on the ground? And how should businesses respond to this fast-changing environment?

Arbitration top trends: are investment treaties the answer to big tech’s problems?

They’ve long been used by oil companies to protect against foreign governments seizing their assets. But could bilateral investment treaties also insulate big tech from punitive tax charges, hastily introduced regulations – and even cyber attacks? Elliott Friedman and Tom Walsh in New York, and Annie Pan in London, explain all to Freshfields’ head of US tech, Boris Feldman

Further resources: You can view the US model BIT here; explore every current BIT in place around the world here; find information on US trade agreements, many of which include investment chapters that provide for arbitration, here; discover more about structuring your investments to achieve treaty protection here; and read a related blog here.

The rise of ESG disputes against financial institutions: 2021 update

In this podcast, Anthea Bowater, David Livshiz, Tim Mak, Simon Orton and Anne-Laure Vincent revisit the topic of ESG disputes in the context of the financial services sector following their webinar and blog post in December. They provide updates from around the world on the developing political and regulatory landscape, diversity and climate commitment litigation, further moves to create international standards for ESG reporting and allegations of greenwashing against funds.

Fintech in focus: is open banking here?

In a digital world, open data is paramount for driving innovation and delivering positive social and economic transformation. In the banking context, this has been in planning for a number of years under the guise of 'open banking'. But, what is open banking?

In this podcast, Matt O’Callaghan (Head of Financial Services Asia), Natalie Pettinger Kearney (Deputy Head of EU Regulatory and Public Affairs) and Claire Harrop (Senior Associate) provide an update on where we are with open banking, and how different regulators around the globe are approaching this topic. We explore open banking from different perspectives (consumers, incumbent banks, fintechs) and look at the potential expansion into open finance, which extends the principles of open banking.

Essential Antitrust #11: Deal disputes: preparing for a more litigious environment

In 2021, evolving market conditions, including heightened regulatory risk, emergence of new theories of harm, and the continuing economic impact of COVID-19 could alter transaction dynamics and contribute to more – and more contentious – transaction-related antitrust litigation, both with authorities and between merging parties.

In our 11^th episode, Jenn Mellott speaks with Linda Martin, Martin Klusmann and Nicholas Frey about how companies can mitigate litigation risk in their transactions with the right transactional toolkit.

Tax matters: UK Spring Budget 2021

The UK Chancellor Rishi Sunak has delivered his second Budget in extraordinary circumstances as the UK continues to deal with the impact of the coronavirus pandemic while also establishing itself outside the EU following the end of the Brexit transition period.

This Budget comes at a time when there are calls for both further economic support measures and a clear fiscal plan to repair the significant deficit in public finances. How has the Chancellor dealt with these competing demands and what tax measures have been announced that businesses need to be aware of?

In this podcast, Josh Critchlow interviews three of our Partners in the London Tax team, Helen Buchanan, Paul Davison and May Smith, on the business tax measures they found the most noteworthy in the Spring Budget 2021, including:

• an increase in the UK’s headline corporation tax rate from 19% to 25% in April 2023;
• the new 130% “super-deduction” aimed at encouraging investment;
• a temporary extension to the carry back rules for trading losses;
• a consultation reviewing the UK’s R&D relief regimes;
• the repeal of the UK’s domestic provisions implementing the EU Interest and Royalties Directive;
• the introduction of reporting rules for digital platforms based on OECD recommendations; and
• reflections on what was missing.

Essential Antitrust #10: Competition law: a bridge or a barrier to sustainability?

2020 has demonstrated that governments and policymakers are seeking to implement ambitious sustainability goals.

However, it is becoming increasingly clear that corporate action and industry-wide collaboration will be indispensable to tackling environmental and other sustainability challenges on a global basis. In our tenth episode, Jenn Mellott speaks with Ninette Dodoo, Paul van den Berg and Maria Dreher about the role that competition law and policy can and should play in helping companies pursue sustainability initiatives.

UK Financial services enforcement round up and looking ahead

In this podcast, Tom Clark and Sharon Grennan consider recent UK enforcement and look ahead to the potential focus for the rest of 2021. A related article is also available.

View from the Valley #5: deconstructing SPACs – how they vary and how they perform

SPACs are the hottest business story of the year. In the latest episode of our View from the Valley podcast series, Freshfields partners Boris Feldman, Pamela Marcogliese and Michael Levitt are joined by Stanford professor Michael Klausner, one of America’s foremost experts, to discuss the ins and outs of the SPAC craze – from how they perform for investors and targets to whether they’re a likely source of future litigation.

Freshfields whistleblowing survey: impact of the #MeToo movement

As part of our ongoing review of whistleblowing culture over the years, we’ve gathered the views of over 2,500 individuals in the UK, US, Hong Kong, Germany and France to assess their attitudes towards whistleblowing, and to consider how these have changed since our last survey in 2017.

Our report shows that there has been a general decrease in those who have been involved in whistleblowing, as well as a decline in confidence with regards to support from senior management for those who do blow the whistle.

In this podcast chaired by Stephanie Chiu and Nicola Jones, guest speakers Caroline Stroud, Holly Insley and Boris Feldman explore one of the aspects of this survey – how the #MeToo movement may have changed our attitudes towards whistleblowing. The speakers share their thoughts on the effect of the #MeToo movement on speak-up culture and how #MeToo related reports may require specific handling and a tailored investigation process. They also discuss whether the whistleblowing trends of the survey are indicative of what we should expect in the future and discuss what might be on the horizon, including potential legislative developments in the US.