Banking, Bankruptcy & Insolvency

  • May 16, 2024

    Canada sanctions ‘extremist Israeli settlers’ for violence against Palestinians in the West Bank

    Ottawa has for the first time sanctioned “extremist Israeli settlers” with dealings and entry bans for “the grave breach of international peace and security posed by their violent and destabilizing actions against Palestinian civilians and their property in the West Bank.”

  • May 16, 2024

    3 new office managing partners at Bennett Jones

    Bennett Jones announced new office managing partners, Preet Gill, Kwang Lim and Pascale Dionne-Bourassa, to its Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal offices, respectively.

  • May 16, 2024

    B.C. court rules lessor cannot sue lessee after seizing collateral motorcycle

    The B.C. Court of Appeal has ruled that a lessor who seized a lessee’s motorcycle for default could not sue the lessee over unpaid lease payments, rejecting claims that a security agreement estopped the lessee from submitting that the motorcycle was a consumer good.

  • May 15, 2024

    FINTRAC: Cryptocurrency ATMs increasingly used for money laundering

    Virtual currency automated teller machines (ATMs) are increasingly being used for money laundering, with the Greater Toronto Area, Greater Montreal and Metro Vancouver emerging as hotspots for suspicious transactions, according to Canada’s financial intelligence unit.

  • May 14, 2024

    Financial Consumer Agency of Canada releases business plan for 2024-25

    The Financial Consumer Agency of Canada (FCAC) has released its business plan for 2024-2025, building on a number of strategic goals and paving the way for the federal government's vision for an open banking system.

  • May 10, 2024

    Supreme Court of Canada clarifies how to assess compensation for constructive expropriation

    The Supreme Court of Canada has explained how to assess compensation payable for constructive expropriation of private land by public authorities in a unanimous decision that reverses a ruling below that pegged what the City of St. John’s owes to a property owner to the land’s prospective market value if it were permitted to be developed for residential use, rather than to its much lower market value as land which is currently zoned “watershed,” with only limited discretionary agriculture, forestry and public utility uses.

  • May 10, 2024

    FINTRAC imposes $6M administrative monetary penalty on Binance

    A $6 million administrative monetary penalty has been imposed on cryptocurrency company Binance Holdings Limited for non-compliance with Part 1 of the Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) and Terrorist Financing Act and its associated regulations.

  • May 09, 2024

    OSC initiative: Early-stage businesses can raise up to $3M without registration as dealer

    The Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) has announced a series of initiatives aimed at enhancing access to capital for early-stage businesses in Ontario, including exempting early-stage businesses from being registered as dealers under the Securities Act when raising capital to $3 million.

  • May 07, 2024

    Sweeping national security bill would boost state investigative powers; expand & create crimes, AMPs

    The federal government has introduced a sweeping national security bill that would create a publicly accessible “foreign influence transparency” registry; expand the warrant, production and disclosure powers of the Canadian Security Intelligence Agency (CSIS); affect criminal accused or judicial review applicants seeking access to relevant “information related to international relations, national defence or national security”; expand the current “sabotage” offence; and create new “foreign interference” offences, along with administrative monetary penalties (AMPs) of up to $5 million and five years in prison, including for knowingly obstructing the operations of the office of a proposed new “Foreign Influence Transparency Commissioner.”

  • May 06, 2024

    Ottawa’s proposed $72M for immigration legal aid in 2024 helps but more funds needed, CBA says

    Immigration lawyers say federal Budget 2024’s boost for immigration legal aid is very welcome, but higher funding is necessary if the burgeoning number of refugee claimants are to access justice in Canada. As unveiled on April 16, 2024, by Chrystia Freeland, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, Budget 2024 proposes $72 million for immigration legal aid in 2024-25, up from $43.5 million per year in Budgets 2023 and 2022.