The Freshfields Podcast

UAE employee monitoring and compliance #2: whistleblowing

In the United Arab Emirates, there is no general duty for employees to disclose wrongdoing in a company, but as the podcast participants highlight, introducing effective speak up programs and whistleblowing protections are essential to well-functioning compliance programs and to mitigate risks.

 

Freshfields’ global investigations lawyer Zara Merali in Dubai is joined by Patrick Meaney, Head of Enforcement at the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA), Anjam Jalal, Associate Director, Enforcement at the DFSA, and Shiraz Sethi, Regional Head of Employment at Dentons to discuss the challenges, laws, best practices and future directions of whistleblowing in the UAE and the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), with Patrick and Anjam providing a regulatory point of view.

Arbitration Insider: Why is climate change and arbitration such a hot topic?

Arbitration Insider is a podcast series focusing on international arbitration, produced by the New York International Arbitration Center (NYIAC) and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer.

In this first episode, co-hosts Rekha Rangachari, Executive Director of NYIAC, and Olivier André, Client Relationship Advisor at Freshfields, focus on the trend towards climate change and arbitration. This topic has become a hot issue over the past few months as the public and private sectors are faced with increased pressure to engage more actively in combating climate change and to reach the targets set by the 2015 Paris Agreement.  In that context, arbitration is increasingly being used to resolve various climate change related disputes and the international arbitration community itself is embracing various initiatives to reduce its own carbon footprint.

Podcast guests include Lee Rovinescu (International Arbitration Partner, Freshfields), Eric Franco (Disputes Global Expert & General Counsel, Engie Peru), Lucy Greenwood (Independent Arbitrator & Founder of the Campaign for Greener Arbitrations), Christoffer Coello Hedberg (Legal Counsel, Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce) and Kiran Sanghera (Special Counsel, Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre).

Reference materials:

• Campaign for Greener Arbitrations – A Framework and Green Protocols
• The Green Pledge - Green Pledge | Campaign for Greener Arbitrations
• ICC Commission Report – Resolving Climate Change Related Disputes through Arbitration and ADR
• 2018 Administered Arbitration Rules: 2018 Administered Arbitration Rules | HKIAC
• Revised SCC Arbitrator’s Guidelines: Revised SCC Arbitrator’s Guidelines - The Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce (sccinstitute.com)

Essential Antitrust Asia #3: Merger control in Vietnam

The third episode in our Essential Antitrust Asia podcast series in which we speak with local experts in Asia to bring you the latest competition law trends and updates in the region. 

This episode focuses on Vietnam’s new Competition Law and features Tony Foster, the Managing Partner of Freshfields’ Vietnam practice; An Hoang Ha, a Senior Associate based in Hanoi with more than 15 years of experience advising investors on Vietnamese law; and Le Hai Duong, an associate based in Ho Chi Minh City. Alastair Mordaunt, co-head of the Antitrust, Competition and Trade practice in Asia, moderates.

In this session, our colleagues will discuss:

[01:37] – An update on inbound investment into Vietnam

[04:29] – An introduction to the new Competition Law and merger control regime in Vietnam

[10:13] – The filing thresholds and nexus requirements under Vietnam’s merger control regime

[13:46] – Filing trends under the new regime

[20:23] – Practical tips for clients on navigating Vietnam merger control regime

Essential Antitrust #12: Merger control: are we witnessing a paradigm shift?

In the US, there are sweeping proposals in Congress for stricter merger control laws. In the EU, the European Commission is encouraging referral requests from Member States, even where transactions fall below merger control thresholds. In the UK, the revised Merger Assessment Guidelines seek to give the CMA more flexibility to find competition issues. All the while, different regulators are on record calling for tougher overall enforcement against consolidation.  Intensified merger control around the globe will mean more – and less predictable – merger filings, making deal-making more complex.

In our 12^th episode, Jenn Mellott speaks with Alastair Chapman, Meghan Rissmiller and Sascha Schubert about how companies can navigate the increasingly daunting merger control landscape.

Ransomware: what boards need to know about the Colonial Pipeline attack

When the Darkside group launched a cyber attack on Colonial Pipeline, it took the business offline and starved much of the US East Coast of fuel.

In our latest podcast (featuring Boris Feldman, Kimberly Zelnick, Giles Pratt, Nabeel Yousef, Lauren Honeyben, Shannon McGovern and the latest recruit in our cyber and data practice, Brock Dahl, former deputy GC at the National Security Agency) we explore what’s known about the shadowy hacking collective, explain the risks board members face from ransomware strikes - and reveal the questions directors should be asking to protect themselves and their companies.

The EU’s AI Regulation #1: Understanding the draft rules

The European Union has finally released its plan to regulate AI. In the first of a mini-series exploring the implications of the proposed rules, Natalie Pettinger-Kearney, Andrew Austin and Christoph Werkmeister discuss what use cases are banned, what sanctions are on the table – and why it’s not too late for businesses to have their say.

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.