ANALYSIS: New U.S. Registration Requirement For Foreign Boards Of Trade

The CFTC recently promulgated rules requiring the registration of FBOTs that provide U.S. members and participants with direct access to the FBOTs’ electronic trading and order matching systems…

Supreme Court To Review ‘Foreign-Cubed’ Case Despite SEC, Solicitor General Objections

The U.S. Supreme Court November 30, 2009, agreed to review a lower court decision dismissing a “foreign-cubed” case that raises critical questions about the reach of U.S. federal courts and the U.S. securities fraud laws with respect to…

Proposed Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act: Impact On Non-U.S. Financial Institutions, Intermediaries, And Investment Vehicles

On October 27, 2009, proposed U.S. tax legislation entitled the “Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act of 2009” (the “Bill”) was introduced in both houses of the U.S. legislature and endorsed by the Obama administration[...] If enacted in its current form…

Proposed Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act: Impact On Bearer Debt Instruments

Bearer debt instruments, when issued in definitive form, allow holders to invest anonymously. Recognising the potential for U.S. investors to take advantage of bearer debt instruments to avoid U.S. taxes, President Ronald Reagan and the U.S. Congress took a number of steps in 1982 to eliminate bearer debt instruments from the U.S. markets. Congress passed the Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act (“TEFRA”), legislation…

Proposed Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act: Impact On Hedge Funds

On October 27, 2009, the House Ways and Means and Senate Finance Committees’ Democratic members introduced the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act of 2009 (H.R. 3933 and S. 1934), a joint legislative proposal on offshore taxation (see WSLR, November 2009, page 3)…