Category — International Law and Policy

The Financial Services Authority (FSA) rules on disclosure were due to expire on June 30, 2009. However, the obligation to disclose a net short position in a UK financial sector company is to remain in place. For details of the current disclosure obligations, please see our January 26, 2009, alert, “UK Financial Stock Short Selling Regime-FSA Releases Policy Statement.”

The current disclosure regime will remain in place until it is “superseded in due course by broader permanent disclosure measures—preferably agreed on the widest possible international basis—and/or be revoked.” The FSA has emphasized that it does not intend to keep the regime permanently.

Note: As previously set out in the January alert, the prohibition on short selling of stocks in UK financial sector companies has ended.

Further information

1. The Policy Statement 09/1, “Temporary short selling measures,” can be found here.
2. The Policy Statement 09/10, “Extension of the short selling disclosure obligation,” can be found here.
3. The list of UK financial sector companies can be found here.

On April 2, 2009, the leaders of the G-20—an international body comprised of representatives of the 19 leading industrial nations, the European Union and (ex-officio) the IMF and the World Bank—met in London to consider measures to spur world economic growth and create a more stable global economy. The same day, the G-20 issued a communiqué outlining the principles each member state agreed to follow in this effort, including, among other things, strengthening financial supervision and regulation.

Read the full alert here.

This post was contributed by Paul Gutermann and Roseanna Baber Hill , writing at another Akin Gump blog, ClimateIntel.com.

As the G-20 summit in London took center stage in international media this week, one contentious issue relates to the New World Economic Forum’s Task Force on Low-Carbon Economic Prosperity.   The Task Force is calling for internationally-implemented stimulus funds, estimated at US $3 trillion worldwide, to go hand-in-hand with low carbon initiatives.  Policymakers and businesses alike are watching the funding issue closely as the UN conference in Copenhagen approaches, and the race for “green” dollars from economic recovery packages gets more competitive.

The Task Force comprises 52 companies, including blue chip firms, major corporations and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). This week it released a letter addressed to UK’s Prime Minister Gordon Brown, and the other G-20 leaders, with the ultimate hope of influencing world leaders to come to a consensus in Copenhagen.  The Task Force’s letter identifies low carbon investments as the focal point of the stimulus packages.  The letter outlines six areas of concentration: market mechanisms (carbon prices), universal standards and metrics, energy efficiency, incentives for accelerated investment in low-carbon technologies, avoided deforestation and land use change and adaptation.  The letter also states the Task Force will release 10 to 20 policy initiatives or public-private collaborations by autumn 2009.

The Task Force builds upon the foundation set forth at the July 2008 G-8 Hokkaido Toyako Summit, where leaders agreed on the goal to reduce global emissions 50% by 2050, and welcomed and supported the establishment of the Climate Investment Funds administered by the World Bank to support developing countries reduce their emissions, among other decisions.  At the July G-8 summit, 100 business executives submitted “CEO Climate Policy Recommendations to G-8 Leaders,” expressing recommendations similar to those found in the task force’s letter to Prime Minister Brown this week.

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