Mayer Brown Asia

Mayer Brown's Hong Kong office organised another beach clean-up event on 31 August, continuing its commitment to environmental sustainability. In collaboration with our long-time partner, Plastic Free Seas, our team of 23 staff members and their families gathered to clean a beach at Chi Ma Wan. They collected 51 kg of litter, predominantly discarded plastic beverage bottles. This collective endeavour not only helps the environment but also fosters a sense of community and responsibility. Thank you to the beach cleaners: Grace Cheng, Lam Cheng, Leonila Galarce, Alice Kwong, Gary Lau, Win Lau, Shasa Sha, Carmen Wong, Catherine Wong, and Helen Yu. #Sustainability #Environmental #HongKong #BeachCleanUp

What are the essential factors to consider when structuring a property-backed financing deal? Mayer Brown Finance Partner Dion Yu, along with Real Estate Partner Pheona Chow, recently explored this topic in their hybrid seminar for #DBSHK, "Property Financing in Hong Kong". Held at #DBSHK’s headquarters office, the seminar offered a deep dive into the latest trends in the Hong Kong property financing market and addressed key issues arising from these trends. The Mayer Brown team provided insights on development financing, drawdown requirements for construction costs, and financing for typical and specialised projects. They also presented case studies of recent landmark property transactions in Hong Kong and addressed frequently asked questions by market participants and concluded with a lively Q&A session. The seminar was well received with more than 40 participants from DBS Institutional Banking Group Large Corporates Real Estate Team and Large Corporate Credit in Hong Kong as well as Institutional Banking Group Real Estate Team in Singapore, attending in-person and online. Thank you DBS Bank, Tracy PAU, Kitty Kwok, Hamza Mahfooz, Vincent Lo, Charles Chan, Edwin Lau for having us in this engaging event and we appreciate the positive feedback! Learn more about our Banking & Finance and Real Estate practices: ➡ Banking & Finance: https://lnkd.in/gSMr5YgQ ➡ Real Estate: https://lnkd.in/gAmFQ8i7 #RealEstateFinancing #DevelopmentFinancing #HongKong

Our Insurance counsel Jenny Yu was interviewed by Asia Insurance Review on the new regulatory developments in Hong Kong in protecting insurance buyers from mainland China and what they could mean for the city's insurance industry. In view of Hong Kong's significant regulatory changes on top of new regulations issued by the Insurance Authority (IA) this year, Jenny commented that "[t]he new regulatory developments should strengthen the financial soundness, risk management, internal controls, and compliance of insurers and insurance intermediaries to promote Hong Kong an international insurance market." She also stated that the IA's recent circular regarding the non-compliant business referrals of long-term insurance would "strengthen the industry’s compliance with insurance regulations and [avoid] any unlicensed selling activities." When asked about regulations on the use of AI in insurance, she expected that "there would be general principles applicable for use of AI, such as ensuring it is used fair and ethically, insurers are held accountable, the use of data is compliant, and the process should be transparent and secure." Read the full article: https://lnkd.in/giS-Fgt3 (subscription only) #AI #Insurance #HongKong

Congratulations to all the students who participated in the University of Hong Kong Be EnGayged Mooting Competition last weekend – we're proud to have sponsored this event for the third consecutive year, to support the next generation of lawyers who are passionate about LGBT+ rights. A special shoutout to Johnson Ng, our senior associate in the Litigation and Dispute Resolution practice, who served as one of the judges. He had the privilege of witnessing compelling arguments on the potential implications if the HK Government does not introduce necessary legal changes to recognise same-sex partnerships by next year's deadline. #LGBT

We are proud to have won six awards at the China Business Law Awards 2024. Mayer Brown was recognised as one of the Best International Law Firms in Pro Bono 🏆, as well as a leading law firm across various practice areas: 🏆 Data Protection & Privacy 🏆 IP (Copyright) 🏆 IP (Trademark) 🏆 Construction & Infrastructure 🏆 Real estate & REIT The annual China Business Law Awards honour outstanding law firms for their China-related work in the past year. Learn more: https://lnkd.in/dW8FGD38 #China #BusinessLaw #LegalAwards 

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority has imposed additional principles on the use of big data analytics and artificial intelligence (BDAI) and specifically, generative artificial intelligence by authorized institutions. These additional principles to the existing BDAI Guiding Principles were set out in a Circular on 19 August 2024 to all authorized institutions. Learn more from this Legal Update authored by Sara Or: https://lnkd.in/d4ZMuhKK #AI #Banking #HongKong

Mayer Brown once again collaborated with our pro bono client Hong Kong Scholars Education and Philanthropic Foundation to deliver a 7-session legal workshops titled “Roles of Lawyers in Society” for a group of passionate secondary school students from Kowloon True Light School. Led by our lawyers from the Corporate and Litigation practice including partner Chester Wong, senior associate Andrew Koon, associate Michelle Man and trainee solicitor Ka Wai Leung, the course not only covered the basics of the Hong Kong legal system and different areas of law, but also exposed the students to both non-contentious and contentious legal work through a variety of in-class activities. The students delivered group presentations on the topics that they have learnt during the course, and they were also not daunted by the questions from the floor. The course was concluded with a simple certificate presentation ceremony by our lawyers. We hope that such collaboration with our community partners can further strengthen young people’s understanding of Hong Kong laws and inspire them to view our society from different perspectives. #Probono #LegalEducation #HongKong

Mayer Brown Asia and Knight Frank were thrilled to co-host a sharing session and networking reception yesterday with over 50 guests from Corporate Banking of Hang Seng Bank and Knight Frank attending. Mayer Brown Asia and Knight Frank shared respective insights on recent market trends and issues to watch out for in real estate financing transactions. We were grateful for an interactive and engaging Q&A session where we sparkled invaluable discussions. We want to express our appreciation to all the participants, distinguished guests and speakers, including Angus Wong, Cyrus Fong, Eugene Wong, Jasmine Y K Chiu, Raymond Chan, Richard Tang and Stephanie Bow.

Our partner Mark Wong and PK Wong & Nair associate director Marianne Yeo have provided a summary of Singapore's Green Data Centre Roadmap (GDCR) recently launched by the Singapore Infocomm Media Development Authority in mid-2024. A key takeaway would be that industry partnerships must be fostered at every level of the data centre ecosystem, in order for the GDCR to meaningfully achieve integrating sustainability into the digital infrastructure industry. https://lnkd.in/gRPfzrMV #CorporateRealEstate #DigitalInfrastructure #DataCentres #ESG #Sustainability

Singapore is once again taking significant steps towards supporting families with the introduction of the new, extended parental leave entitlements which will take effect from 1 April 2025. This reinforcement of support is designed to help parents spend more time with their newborn babies – but will also require businesses to adjust. In this Legal Update, Jennifer Chih discusses the key aspects of the new parental leave policies and the important implications for employers: https://lnkd.in/gWhM6WzU #Singapore #ParentalLeave #EmploymentLaw