The Saudi Central Bank (SAMA) is launching a new initiative – Open Banking – that promises to stimulate growth and innovation in the Kingdom’s financial services industry. Already an established protocol in the UK and Europe, Open Banking allows consenting customers to securely share their data with third parties. Once deployed in KSA in the…
Partner and Head of BSA’s Intellectual Property practice, Munir Suboh, has been selected by Asian Legal Business as a MENA Super 50 Lawyer. As part of the first MENA Super 50 Lawyers list, Munir was chosen, alongside other selected lawyers, based on client recommendations sent directly to Asian Legal Business via an electronic survey. To…
In the latest issue of The Mena Business Law Review Partner Lara Barbary and Senior Associate Robert Mitchley write about the new amendments to the UAE Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) Law. “The UAE Foreign Direct Investment Law was enacted on 23 September 2018. The key principle for non-UAE nationals (individuals or companies) to own up to…
In a recent arbitration, BSA’s team succeeded in defeating the operation of a pay when paid clause, triggered by a MEP subcontractor against BSA’s client, a security package subcontractor, by arguing the MEP subcontractor’s lack of pursuit of the security package subcontractor’s claim and in breach of good faith. The security package subcontractor (“SP-Sub”) was…
The English High Court has recently handed down a judgement in a test case related to “Business Interruption” insurance in the context of the COVID19 pandemic, which provides an interesting angle in respect of coverage issues and general English law [insurance] contract interpretation. The Financial Conduct Authority v Arch and Others[1] essentially addressed the legal…
UAE Cabinet Decision No. 58 / 2020 is to be implemented to regulate the minimum obligations of the corporate entities incorporated in the UAE mainland and in the non-financial free zones (each an “Entity”) by requiring disclosure at the initial incorporation/registration stage, and maintenance thereafter, of a “Register of Real Beneficiaries” and “Register of Partners or…
What kind of legal protection against salary cuts and redundancy is afforded to employees in the UAE? The Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation (‘MOHRE’) has issued, on 26 March 2020, Ministerial Resolution no. 279 of 2020 (the ‘Resolution’) to help employers cope with the hardships arising from the COVID-19 outbreak. The Resolution enables private…
BSA has recently made a partner-level personnel move for its Muscat office. Arsalan Tariq was hired two years ago by BSA’s, DIFC office and promoted to Partner at BSA’s Muscat office in January 2020. Now, Arsalan physically moves to BSA’s Muscat office as a Partner and Head of the Corporate Department. In his new role, Arsalan…
During these trying times of Covid-19 and its impact on the financial affairs and revenue of numerous companies, an interesting method of recovering a little bit of extra cash is by applying the provisions of Article 64 of the Federal Law No (8) of 2017 on Value Added Tax (the “VAT Law”). Article 64 of…
Two weeks ago, more than 2,000,000 people living in the City of Beirut survived the impact of one of the biggest explosions in the history of mankind. The devastating explosion in the Port of Beirut on August 4, 2020, left the whole world overwhelmed. We were all damaged by this horrible explosion in one way…
