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Briefing Notes
Banking & Finance
China orders domestic companies to defy US sanctions, trapping global banks in a compliance crossfire as geopolitical risk hits the international financial system
Beijing's sanctions defiance collapses the voluntary compliance model — banks must now choose between two irreconcilable legal regimes.
Energy & Tech
UK agrees to enter formal negotiations to join the EU's €90bn Ukraine loan scheme, deepening post-Brexit defence and energy security alignment with Brussels
UK accession to the EU Ukraine facility reopens sovereign lending mandates for City firms that thought Brexit had closed that door.
M&A
UCB agrees to acquire Candid Therapeutics in a cross-border biotech deal to bolster its immunology pipeline with next-generation T-cell engager assets
Earn-out structures in pharma M&A live or die on how precisely clinical milestones are defined in the SPA.
Regulation
EU's Industrial Accelerator Act faces mounting implementation challenges as China's new domestic laws and US counter-reactions create a three-way regulatory collision
Three competing subsidy regimes — EU, US, and Chinese — mean corporate clients face simultaneous, irreconcilable regulatory compliance obligations.
International
Cleary Gottlieb commits to London with its seventh partner hire of 2026 as the firm deepens its Global Funds practice ahead of a strategic expansion in European private capital
Seven partner hires in five months at Cleary signals US firms are moving from opportunistic to structural competition for European private capital mandates.
Capital Markets
Barclays joins growing consensus of brokerages forecasting zero Federal Reserve rate cuts in 2026 as rate-sensitive capital markets reprice for higher-for-longer
Higher-for-longer rates keep debt issuance costs elevated, compressing leveraged buyout deal flow and IPO windows simultaneously.
AI & Law
India's markets regulator SEBI prepares an advisory on emerging AI risks in financial markets, as the first wave of regulator-issued AI risk guidance reaches capital markets supervision
SEBI's AI advisory is the template regulators worldwide will adapt — FCA watchers should treat it as a preview of what's coming to the City.
Disputes
Stellantis investors are invited to lead a US securities fraud class action as the Schall Law Firm urges investors to seek lead plaintiff status over alleged shareholder misrepresentations
Dual-listed European corporates create cross-border securities litigation exposure that US-only firms cannot fully service alone.