#12 December 2018

In focus – Fintech

The world keeps track of disruptive innovations, as technologies confirm their status as an indispensable part of our everyday lives. Access to financial services has taken a revolutionary step forward with the development of fintech (a portmanteau of “financial technology”). This is among the fastest growing industries in the world, offering immense value and a global scale.

Expert Opinion

Cloud Technologies in the Financial Sector

Oksana Volynets

The global digital transformation and increased cyber security threats are triggering the stepping up of information security measures. The relevant expenditures in budgets of the corporate sector and financial institutions are growing steadily. The trend of recent years has been that of constant demand for IT outsourcing and the use of cloud computing solutions rather than investments in conventional IT models. The cloud option, as a cost-effective solution, enables the move from the CAPEX to OPEX business models...

In Re

5 Things you Should Pay Attention to When Dealing with Cryptocurrency

Georgi Dzhaniashvili

Words like cryptocurrency, token and ICO are no longer new. Cryptocurrency is a kind of digital currency, the creation and control of which are based on cryptographic methods. As a rule, cryptocurrencies are decentralized and cryptocurrency units can be emitted through mining, forging or ICO.

Smarter Bank Compliance and Regulation: What about Ukraine?

Oleg Krainskyi

Similar to any other process in finance that requires human input, bank compliance, regulation, and oversight can and should be assisted by technology to enhance efficiency, increase capabilities and cut costs. Bringing man and machine together in these areas goes under the name “regtech” for those solutions that help finance business to manage compliance and “suptech” for those solutions that help regulators to look after exactly how well finance business is managing compliance. While not booming quite as much as the broader fintech narrative, both regtech and suptech have been hot topics in the tech community in recent years. However, in Ukraine, those developments have gone almost unnoticed so far...

News

DEALS

Aequo advised Ipsos

PwC Legal Ukraine and Linklaters advised Guala Closures S.p.A.

EY advised Rozetka in connection with its merger with EVO

Dentons advised BNP Paribas and syndicate of international banks

CMS advised on high-profile acquisition of stake in largest Moldovan bank

CASES

Russia lodged appeal in “Yanukovych debt” case

Megafon to go into litigation with Hewlett-Packard in California

Ban on liquidation or restructuring of VTB Bank’s Ukrainian subsidiary cancelled

Court saw no violation of investment obligations after Ukrtelecom’s privatization

Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP and Asters score for Oschadbank

DRAFT

Introduction of new financial instruments by banks

A Draft Law on Protection of Employees’ Rights in Case of Employer’s Insolvency

BIZNEWS

Competition

AMCU fined National Information Systems

Master Avia and Kyiv Airport fined for anticompetitive concerted actions

Visa Policy

E-visas for entering Ukraine to cost more from January

Cryptocurrencies

Ministry of Economic Development initiates cryptocurrency legalization in Ukraine

First syndicated loan on blockchain issued

Financial Services

UnionPay International enters Ukraine

Sanctions

Russia imposed sanctions on Ukraine

French bank Société Générale to pay US penalty for dealing with sanctioned nations

 

LAW DIGEST

Changes to loans and mortgages regulations

Law on reducing excise taxes on imported cars and preferential customs clearance signed

Amendments to taxation

Chamber News

The business community met with President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko

The business community, united by the American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine, European Business Association, and Ukrainian Entrepreneurs Union — has held a meeting with President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko

Cover Story

Legal Creativity

As stated in the Global Fintech Report Q2 2018, published by CBINSIGHTS, during the first half of 2018 fintech projects attracted around UDS 57.9 billion of financing globally. Traditional institutions, bankers and big corporate players are facing an increasing lack of trust, and with that — the need to adjust to innovations. Fintech companies are here to close this gap and transform the financial market.

However, the fintech industry is facing constant disruptions caused by the lack of regulation, cyber-attacks, the absence of the so-called “human touch”, limited access to financing and the unreadiness of the banking sector to diversify. Among the many fintech market players, there exist fintech and crypto lawyers that make up the vast fintech legal sector.

We went to Brightman FinTech Law Firm, a boutique law firm, located in Kyiv, Ukraine, and is now focusing on the US emerging fintech market, having established in the fall of 2018 its representative office in New York City. Despite the company’s “freshness” on the Ukrainian legal market, its core team became engaged with the fintech and crypto industry from the first days of its formation in Ukraine. Providing ongoing legal support to the Ukrainian and foreign fintech and e-commerce start-ups, IT companies, cryptocurrency platforms, ICOs and venture capital investors, Brightman’s co-founders refer to the fintech market as a blockbuster whose footage evolves furiously. Krystyna Nyemchynova and Dmytro Honcharenko, the fintech “movie crew”, claim that it is now the right time to sit and watch fintech supersede conventional finance.

Argument

Use of the Escrow Account in Ukraine and Abroad

Anastasiia Poels

Almost every major transaction in Ukraine, whether shares or real estate or other pricy goods at stake, goes through the famous Ostap Bender’s negotiating phase: chairs in the evening, money in the morning. Where the goods cannot be handed over from hands to hands simultaneously with  consideration for it, long negotiations “who is first?” and consequent complicated schemes of enforcement of obligations are put in place to ensure that every party gets what it is expecting under the contract...

Hot Issue

Taxation of Permanent Establishment Financing in Ukraine: The Never-Ending Story

Vitalii Trachuk , Khrystyna Knygynytska

Not many foreign companies today would be brave enough to choose conducting business in Ukraine through a registered representative office for obvious reasons of legal uncertainty and scrutiny of the tax office.

Nevertheless, when the Ukrainian tax system was being formed, registration of a representative office was a rather favored option by foreign companies. For tax purposes, such representative offices would normally be registered as permanent establishments (PEs), even if they were to serve “non-commercial” purposes (i.e., to conduct merely preparatory and auxiliary activity for its head office)...

How To

Contracts and Legal Drafting — Where Obsession and Rationality Collide

Vitalii Kacherovskyi

Law is one of the best and oldest professions. And, to be frank, one of the most crucial in the modern world. It helps us be more adapted for life difficulties, be well-educated and look cool, kind of like superheroes.

All of us who decided to study law and dive into this interesting adventure, had their own reasoning and motivation. Someone went to help others, someone went to make life of other people easier and protect their rights, while someone just wanted to make money or just because it was a prestigious career path...

Crux

Legal Digest

There was a portion of legislative novelties from Parliament this month, which prompted lots of questions for consideration. In this section the UJBL editorial team has enlisted the help of experts to comment on some of them. Our latest digest includes economic sanctions on Ukrainian business imposed by the Russian Federation; draft laws Amendments to Certain Laws of Ukraine Regarding Improvement of Financial Restructuring Procedure;Ensuring Principles of Procedural Justice and Increasing Efficiency of Proceedings in Cases on Violations of Legislation on the Economic Competition; methodical recommendation on using the term “control”. Our team also enquired about the law On Electronic Trust Services; draft laws On Changes to the Law of Ukraine On the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights; On Protection of Employees’ Rights in Case of Employer’s Insolvency and more.

Foreign update

Doing Business with Belarus

What makes Belarus an interesting proposition for Ukrainian business? What forms of presence are available for a foreign business? What nuances of state administrative influence business, and what peculiar features of public procurement and commercial bidding are there in the Republic of Belarus? These and other issues were discussed at the Doing Business with Belarus Conference organized by REVERA Law Firm (Minsk) with information support of Yuridicheskaya Practika Publishing at the site of educational project Legal High School...

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