Bancario y Financiero
Countdown to comply with new requirements on sustainability disclosures in the financial sector
On March 10, 2021, most of the provisions in Regulation (EU) 2019/2088 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 November 2019 come into force. The new obligations relate to both the internal organization of the vast majority of financial institutions, as well as the information they must publish on their website and in the pre-contractual information on their products.Cross-border bank mergers in Europe (and III): Approvals and transactions in stages
Las fusiones bancarias transfronterizas han vuelto a estar de actualidad en la Unión Europea, animadas por los propios supervisores. En este tercer y último artículo de la serie analizamos el régimen de autorizaciones, el carácter probablemente imparable del proceso y alguna posible sugerencia para avanzar hacia una fusión, aunque por etapas.Cross-border bank mergers in Europe (II): The unique peculiar features of the law in each country
Keeping our legal sight on the obstacles or difficulties for cross-border mergers which we started looking at in the previous article in this series, we cannot overlook that the laws of every state retain their own peculiar characteristics, a few of which are deep rooted although little known beyond their borders, which may place boulders in the path that are hard or impossible to move round.Cross-border bank mergers in Europe (I): Why are they not here yet?
There has been much talk about cross-border bank mergers in Europe, but so far none have happened or appear to be imminent. A few years ago Garrigues recommended that banks watch out for them in the future. Now the European supervisors are calling for them to be carried out and even trying to make them easier. But for the time being the bank concentration process is still taking place within each member state. This is currently being seen in Italy, with the acquisition of UBI Banca by Intesa Sanpaolo, and in Spain, with the merger of Caixabank and Bankia. It is not happening across borders. In this series of three articles we will try to identify and reflect on a number of legal factors that may partly explain this situation.NPLs: Portfolio deals will increase due to COVID-19
In the wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a significant increase in debt held by both consumers and companies. Over the coming years, we expect to see a large number of debt and distressed asset deals. In this viewpoint, Garrigues provides in this documentan analysis of the debt market situation and trends in Latin America, Spain and Portugal, where there is a clear move toward greater sophistication in these deals.Preserving and increasing liquidity in the time of COVID-19
Over the past weeks, Spanish companies and credit applicants from all industries, both essential and non-essential, have been implementing strategies in order to try, as far as they can in the circumstances, to ensure liquidity and minimize the impact of COVID-19 on their activity. This includes a number of measures in all areas of the business, which are in turn conditioned by the measures implemented by the Spanish government and other supra-national, national, autonomous community and local authorities. All these measures and every new piece of legislation can be tracked in our special 'Companies facing the coronavirus COVID-19'.COVID-19: Implemented regulatory solutions for the protection of the Portuguese economy
On March 26, 2020, the Portuguese Government approved Decree-Law nº 10-J/2020 (“Moratorium Regime”), putting into practice exceptional measures for protecting families, companies and welfare institutions, in relation to the weight of their debt service obligations, specifically creating a moratorium which will apply until September 30, 2020. A special regime is also created for the grant of guarantees by the Portuguese State. This Alert contains the most relevant points of the regime approved.COVID-19: Official State Gazette publishes decision defining first tranche of guarantees in Spain
This guarantee facility is to be managed by ICO and will cover new loans and other types of financing provided by financial institutions to companies and the self-employed to soften the economic effects of COVID-19.Specialized credit institutions will have to adapt to new capital requirements
The royal decree implementing the legal regime of specialized credit institutions (EFCs - Establecimientos Financieros de Crédito) was published in the Official State Gazette on February 25. It is aimed at favoring competition in lending that will prompt orderly credit growth, according to its preamble.Garrigues, law firm of the year for the Andes region
Garrigues was named the law firm of the year for the Andes region, as part of LatinFinance’s Deals of the Year Awards. With this accolade, the LatinFinance editorial team recognized Garrigues for its legal counsel in certain landmark financial deals in Latin America during the past year. The awards ceremony held last night in New York, where the US publication is headquartered, brought together the top investors, banks and law firms operating in Latin America. This is the third time Garrigues has won this award, this time for the second year in a row.