LEGAL/POLICY

Financial services firms and technology providers that supply them will be subject to new operational resilience obligations under legislation approved by EU law makers earlier this week. Pinsent Masons experts Yvonne Dunn and Luke Scanlon, who specialise in technology contracts in financial services, said the EU’s Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA) package forms just part of an increasingly stringent regulatory regime around operational resilience and third-party risk that firms and service providers active in both the EU and UK need to navigate. The DORA package, proposed by the European Commission...

By Syndicated Content Switzerland’s highest court has rejected Swisscom’s appeal over the standards it has to use in expanding fibre-optic networks to consumers, the court said on Tuesday. The case centred on whether Swisscom could use a different standard than the one telecoms companies had agreed in a round table with regulators. The Federal Administrative Court had ruled against Swisscom last year, and the Federal Supreme Court upheld that ruling in a verdict released on Tuesday. “The Federal Supreme Court rejects Swisscom’s appeal in connection with the precautionary measure imposed...

By Chris Donkin A US court ordered a lawsuit lodged against Google over allegations of illegally monopolising the app distribution market for Android devices could proceed as a class action case, covering more than 21 million consumers. The ruling covered 17 states and territories under US jurisdiction, with qualifying parties those who paid for an app or made an in-app purchase through Google Play’s billing system from 16 August 2016 onwards. Google is accused of various uncompetitive business practices related to the distribution of apps. This includes building and maintaining...

By Mike Robuck The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and seven US states sued Google and US media company iHeartMedia over alleged deceptive adverts which used radio personalities to promote the Pixel 4 smartphone in 2019 and 2020, heaping further pressure on the Alphabet-owned business over its business practices and claimed dominance of various markets. Reuters reported the companies had settled claims lodged by the authority and US states. The FTC stated they had accused Google of hiring iHeartMedia and 11 other radio networks in ten major domestic markets in 2019...

By Jake Simmons As the legal battle between Ripple Labs and the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) enters the home stretch, the fintech is throwing one more punch. As NewsBTC reported, Nov. 30 and Dec. 5 could be key dates that reveal a possible settlement agreement between the two disputants. Regardless, Ripple’s legal counsel and chief technology officer (CTO) continue to go full steam ahead in their confrontation with the SEC, harshly criticizing its enforcement policies against the crypto industry. Ripple’s general counsel, Stuart Alderoty echoed the SEC’s recently...

By Godson Umejiego, Bureau Chief, The Americas The Federal Reserve Board and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation announced on Wednesday the results of their joint review of the resolution plans—also known as living wills—that the eight largest and most complex domestic banking organizations submitted in 2021. Resolution plans must describe a financial company’s strategy for rapid and orderly resolution in bankruptcy in the event of its material financial distress or failure. The agencies identified a shortcoming in Citigroup Inc.’s resolution plan and did not identify any other shortcomings or deficiencies...