Leading offshore law firm Appleby acted as Bermuda and Isle of Man counsels to security agent DNB Asia Ltd. (DNB Bank) on its US$300 million term loan facility provided to Crystal Acquisition Company Limited (Borrower). The loan facility, provided together with Credit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, was guaranteed by Genting Hong Kong Limited (Genting).

John Melia (pictured), a partner in Appleby’s Hong Kong office, led the transaction, assisted by associate Vincent Chan. Norton Rose Fulbright acted as onshore counsel to DNB Bank.

Genting is a Bermuda company with its primary listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and secondary listing on the Singapore Stock Exchange. It is a leading global leisure, entertainment and hospitality enterprise, with core competences in both land- and sea-based businesses. The loan facility will be used by Genting to finance the acquisition of two ships registered in the Bahamas, “Crystal Symphony” and “Crystal Serenity”, from Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha, one of the world's largest shipping, logistics, air cargo and transport companies.

According to Genting, the deal presented an "excellent opportunity" to take advantage of growing demand in the luxury cruise market.

41% more worker time is spent dealing with customers outside traditional 9 to 5 office hours, compared with three years ago, creating a rapid demand for 24 hour services.

A study into incoming business call volumes by call answering service alldayPA, tracked over a million calls from a two year period, to reveal the working day now begins at 8am and runs until 8pm.

Legal and e-commerce businesses have seen the biggest rise in 8am to 8pm working – legal firms have seen an 80% rise in calls outside 9 to 5, while for e-commerce it is 60%.

Reuben Singh, chief executive officer at alldayPA, said: “Customer expectations are changing radically. 8-to-8 opening hours are seen as the norm rather than the exception.

“Businesses advertising telephone services should expect calls whenever customers see a listing or advert, whatever time of day, or night that is.  Legal firms are experiencing the biggest growth due to greater emphasis on advertising personal injury claim lines and other helplines.

“For e-commerce and IT businesses, that operate round-the-clock, customers expect staff to be working as well, with calls outside 9 to 5 up 60% and 38% respectively.”

While larger businesses are adapting to these changing customer expectations using shift workers and international call centres, research suggests small and medium sized companies are simply lengthening their working day, putting greater pressure on staff.

32% of workers in such businesses say they regularly take calls outside of their contracted hours to help meet the demands of customers*.

“For smaller, fast-growing businesses, the 8-to-8 customer culture presents a real risk, both in terms of the well-being of entrepreneurs and bosses, but also a risk to the quality of customer service that is offered,” Singh explains`.

“Getting additional support from professional call answering services is a better solution for these businesses, easing the out-of-hours burden and ensuring a consistent, professional service for customers.”

UKOOG and the GMB recently (8th June 2015) announced the agreement of a joint charter on shale gas, focusing on safety, skills and supply chain development.

The charter underlines a joint commitment to ensure:

·         That gas is recognised as essential to British industry and households

·         Gas has a key role in both the UK’s future energy supply and the move to a low carbon energy future

·         An increased understanding about the importance of gas and the long history of exploration and production onshore in Britain

·         The establishment of an Industry Safety Forum to build on the already strong regulatory and safety foundations in the sector

·         Skilled jobs are created and local communities benefit through the employment and training opportunities this brings

·         British manufacturing and other supply chains have the opportunity to benefit from the development of the shale gas industry

UKOOG and GMB are committed to ensuring the industry works safely, transparently and in an environmentally responsible way. Shale gas development has attracted a great deal of debate around health, safety and the environment in recent years and GMB and UKOOG will seek to address these issues. This agreement will help build understanding amongst local communities and further bolster the strong safety and regulatory standards of the sector. The industry is already regulated under the HSE, EA and DECC; has a comprehensive set of internal guidelines and a ground-breaking agreement around monitoring of fracking sites was announced last year.

GMB has welcomed UKOOG’s development of the National College for Onshore Oil and Gas.  As part of this agreement, GMB will have a seat on the Operation and Advisory Council of the National College.

Ken Cronin UKOOG Chief Executive commented: "I am delighted to be working with the GMB, their history is immersed in the gas industry and we have a lot of common interest. Natural gas from shale has the potential to generate many thousands of highly skilled well paid jobs.

Gas is used for heating and cooking in over 80% of the homes and workplaces in the country. Gas is also an important feedstock for the chemical industry, which employs tens of thousands of people in the North of England. It is essential for the economic well-being and the energy security of the UK that we get on with exploration to determine the extent of the gas resources we have in this country."

Gary Smith, GMB National Secretary, said  "Having access to gas is a matter of national security. Our homes and large parts of British industry need gas; any suggestion to the contrary is just not real world. The truth is we are going to be using gas including shale gas for a long time to come. Given these facts we need to honestly consider the moral and environmental issues about transporting gas, including shale gas, across oceans and continents and being increasingly dependent on gas from countries with regulatory and environmental standards lower than ours. 

GMB believes it is essential that we continue to debate the merits of shale gas and that this is done soberly. The UK has serious issues about energy security and they need to be considered in any debate on shale. 

GMB has a 126 years involvement in the gas industry. GMB has a fantastic track record in ensuring we have the highest standards of Health and Safety and skills in the UK gas industry. If the shale gas industry does take off we will bring all that experience to bear, to ensure the industry operates at the very highest standards in terms of the environment and Health and Safety. Integral to this is having a highly skilled workforce and we will work with the industry to make sure we have levels of skills that are absolutely second to none."

The European Commission has published its first Solvency II third-country equivalence decisions, and they include a few surprises.

The Commission has decided that Switzerland is Solvency II equivalent on all three bases - i.e. for group capital calculation purposes, for group supervisory purposes, and for reinsurance purposes. There's no surprise here. These decisions will now be considered by the European Parliament and Council. And, if the Parliament and Council are content - which seems likely - the Swiss equivalence decisions will be made, published in the Official Journal of the European Union, and final.

The Commission has also decided that Australia, Bermuda, Brazil, Canada, Mexico and the USA are Solvency II equivalent, for group capital purposes (only); on a 10 year renewable basis (only) and, in the case of Bermuda, only in respect of commercial insurers, not captives.

This is a little surprising. For example, most commentators were expecting, and EIOPA's earlier analyses suggested, that Bermuda would be fully or temporarily equivalent on all three bases, whilst this might suggest that it's only being given temporary equivalence for one. More likely, perhaps, is that the decision on group supervisory equivalence for Bermuda, and the decisions on reinsurance equivalence for Bermuda and Japan, are still to come.

This wider list of countries is also slightly surprising, if only because, whilst each of Australia, Brazil, Canada and Mexico expressed a degree of interest in equivalence on some basis, none of them applied; and this is first time in a long time that the Commission has said anything which acknowledges these facts.

So, what about the USA? It didn't apply for equivalence, and - on at least some occasions - it's been determined not to allow itself to be assessed for equivalence. But it's been granted equivalence for group capital purposes regardless. How can that be?

The answer lies the the identity of the 'winners' and 'losers', when a country's group capital equivalence is determined. This is because group capital equivalence only matters if a European (re)insurance group has a third-country subsidiary; and the group calculates its group capital position using deduction and aggregation techniques, instead of consolidated accounting. In these circumstances, if the third-country is Solvency II equivalent, the value of the third country subsidiary's assets and liabilities, and its contribution towards the group's capital position, are all calculated using local rules. Whereas, if the third-country is not equivalent, the subsidiary's assets and liabilities, and its contribution towards the group's capital position must be calculated using Solvency II instead. And, in most cases, when that happens, the European group needs more capital than it would need if local rules could be used instead. So, if the US is Solvency II equivalent for group capital purposes, the "winners" are likely to be European (re)insurance groups; and, if it's not, the same European (re)insurance groups are likely to be "losers" instead. The Commission has therefore been kind enough to solve this potential problem.

The really sensitive US third-country equivalence issues are therefore around group supervision and reinsurance. in practice, at least some European sub-groups with US parents are benefitting, or are expecting to benefit, from practical Solvency II group supervisory equivalence, whether the US is granted Solvency II equivalence on this basis, or not. The thorn in the flesh is therefore really a reinsurance thorn in the side of North American reinsurers, which is only likely to be salved, or removed, if the US / EU Solvency II equivalence negotiations get off the ground, and a settlement can be found. But that, as they say, is another story altogether.

By Chris Finney (pictured), leading regulatory lawyer and Partner at Cooley LLP.

Conveyancers face mounting pressure to maintain and grow their business as total transactions for the first quarter of 2015 fell 16% from Q4 2014 and 5% year-on-year, according to the Conveyancing Market Tracker from Search Acumen, the search provider.

The Tracker – which uses Land Registry data to assess competitive pressures in the conveyancing market – also reveals fewer firms were active during Q1 2015, with an average of 4,177 registering transactions each month, down -2% from 4,259 in Q4 2014 and -4% from 4,330 in Q1 2014.

However, Search Acumen’s analysis shows total transactions have fallen faster than business numbers both quarterly and annually. This has been influenced by tougher lending rules which have reined in the housing market – including the Mortgage Market Review (MMR) and subsequent actions by the Financial Policy Committee (FPC) – along with a degree of uncertainty ahead of the election.

As a result, the average conveyancing firm recorded 57 transactions during Q1 2015: just below the 58 clocked up a year earlier and down -14% from 67 in Q4 2014.

Big firms suffer the most from short-term slowdown

The Conveyancing Market Tracker indicates that the bigger firms felt the greatest impact of the Q1 slowdown. Average quarterly transactions among the top 1,000 conveyancers fell to 173 in Q1 2015: down -16% from 207 in Q4 2014 and down -5% from 182 in Q1 2014.

The drop-off was even greater among the top five, whose average of 3,021 transactions in Q1 2015 was down -36% from 4,751 in Q4 2014 and down -26% from 4,098 in Q1 2014.

As a result, the top five firms saw their collective market share reduced by two percentage points from 8% in both Q1 2014 and Q4 2014 to 6% in Q1 2015. This was the same percentage share they enjoyed back in Q1 2012.

However, the market recovery since then means the biggest firms are still seeing significantly more customers coming through the door than was the case three years ago. A 6% share of conveyancing activity in Q1 2015 amounted to 15,106 transactions: 61% more than in Q1 2012 when it added up to just 9,385.

Despite the drop since Q1 2014, longer term comparisons of overall business volumes also look healthier with the total of 238,688 Q1 transactions in 2015 up by 36% from 176,100 in 2013. The typical firm has seen total Q1 activity grow by 43% since 2013 (when they averaged 40 transactions) and by 57% since 2012 (when they averaged just 36).

This upwards trend has been boosted by the falling number of competing firms in the market. There were 225 fewer firms active in Q1 2015 compared with Q1 2013, and 283 fewer than in Q1 2012.

Mark Riddick, Chairman of Search Acumen, comments:

“The fact that larger conveyancing firms have been impacted most by the slow start to 2015 is a clear sign that no-one is immune to competitive pressures in a temperamental housing market. A drop in transactions during Q1 was perhaps an inevitable result of stricter lending criteria and pre-election uncertainty. Conveyancers can take some comfort from the fact that the average firm is still clocking up more transactions than they were two or three years ago.

“Looking ahead, the quick transition from Coalition to Conservative governments will help to avoid the market disruption that might have come from weeks of post-election party negotiations. There is still a real need for major supply side policies to create more movement in the property market. But factors such as negative inflation, low mortgage pricing and the improving outlook for jobs should help to boost conveyancing activity this year.

“All the same, our analysis clearly shows that conveyancing firms cannot simply rely on there being more customers to go round if they want to maintain and grow their own volumes. At the start of the year, they reported that improving systems and processes was the biggest challenge to growing their business. Fierce competition means there is no room for operational inefficiencies and no time for any firm to take their eye off the ball if they want to hit – or exceed – their 2015 targets.”