Insights

General Politics

Global Month Ahead: Elections in Spain, Shangri-La Dialogue, Summit on a New Global Financing Pact

General Politics

Ana Martínez
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Welcome back to the Global Month Ahead, your briefing on the events that will define the month to come, hosted by Associate Director Isabelle Trick.

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Inside the global push to regulate cryptocurrencies

TMT

Conan D'Arcy
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This week on the show, Conan D'Arcy is joined by Associate Director David Song to unpack the latest developments in the global push to regulate digital currencies. They compare proposals in Europe and the US, explore the political aftermath of the FTX collapse and look towards the future path to implementation.

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What does OpenAI CEO Sam Altman's Senate hearing mean for ChatGPT regulation?

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Conan D'Arcy
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This week on the podcast, Conan D'Arcy is joined by Associate Sonia Vasconcellos to review Sam Altman's recent testimony before the US Senate and what it means for the regulation of generative AI in the United States and beyond.

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General Politics

The Domino Effect: The global implications of changes to Section 230

General Politics

Ugonma Nwankwo
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Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act is the key building block to internet governance and has shaped the growth of e-commerce, social media, search, and the other key services we use every day online. A change to the legal framework, potentially prompted by court decisions, could create major upheaval in how the internet and user-generated content is organized…

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The CMA: friend or foe for the UK gaming sector?

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Josh Bates
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The future of Microsoft’s Activision Blizzard acquisition has seen changing fortunes from week to week, with the unexpected move of the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) in blocking the deal followed weeks later by the European Commission’s granting its approval, albeit with remedies attached. With two such major players within the gaming sector involved in…

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The architect of the Online Safety Bill on UK tech regulation and generative AI

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Conan D'Arcy
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This week, Conan D'Arcy is joined by Lorna Woods, a Professor of Internet Law at the University of Essex whose work is widely regarded as lying the groundwork for the UK's Online Safety Bill. Conan and Lorna discuss her regulatory philosophy, respond to recent criticism of the Online Safety Bill, and look towards the regulation of generative AI tools like ChatGPT.

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General Politics

Declining private investment casts shadow over China’s economic outlook

General Politics

Jens Presthus
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A GC team has just returned from Hong Kong, where we held discussions with a series of private domestic and foreign investors about the outlook for China. Many pointed out how private investment, from both domestic and foreign sources, is declining just as China needs more of it. Geopolitics is partly to blame, but an uncertain domestic political environment is also…

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How the EU's controversial plans for patents divide the tech industry

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Conan D'Arcy
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This week on Top in Tech, Senior Associate Jack Keevill joins Conan D'Arcy to unpack a new European Union push to overhaul technology patents. Will the reforms contribute to building tension between the EU and US?

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New in nuclear – financing the transition in Central and Eastern Europe

General Policy

Alexander van der Wusten
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While Germany is proceeding with its final phase-out of nuclear power, in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), interest in building new nuclear plants continues to grow. Particularly in Poland, which currently does not have any reactors producing electricity, but also countries like Czechia, which proposes to increase the share of nuclear power in its energy mix from the…

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US regional banking crisis and the need for deposit insurance

Financial Services

Erin Caddell
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Financial markets and the banking system breathed a sigh of relief on May 1st following news that First Republic, the troubled San Francisco-based lender that had hovered on the edge of failure for days, would be acquired by JPMorgan Chase, the nation’s largest bank, with funding and loss-sharing support provided by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC). The S&P…

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Global Month Ahead: Turkish elections, G7 summit, and a grain deal in Ukraine

General Policy

Alexander Smotrov
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This month, Isabelle Trick is joined by Ed King to preview the upcoming G7 summit, Thomas Gratowski looks towards pivotal elections in Turkey, and Alexander Smotrov explains tensions over grain exports among EU nations and Ukraine.

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Is blocking the Microsoft-Activision deal just the start for UK digital competition regulation?

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Bart Myners
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This week on the podcast, Conan D'Arcy is joined by Associate Bart Myners to unpack the CMA's decision to block Microsoft's blockbuster purchase of Activision-Blizzard. They also touch on the UK's new Digital Markets, Competition and Consumer Bill, which empowers the CMA to introduce a range of pre-emptive measures on large tech platforms with a view…

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The IRA and GDIP: Much more than just a subsidy war

Financial Services

Ben Bassett
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The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) has fired the starting gun on what is likely to be a new era of industrial policy around the green transition and, set alongside the CHIPS Act and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, marks a wide shift in US policy. It has also triggered an anxious response from the EU with the Green Deal Industrial Plan (GDIP), and although they are often…

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The geopolitics and economics of the UK's biggest post-Brexit trade deal

Trade & Manufacturing

Kian Ming Ong
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This week on the podcast, Associate Ross Nugent is joined by Senior Advisers Tiffany McDonald and Ong Kian Ming to discuss the UK's recent decision to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership. The CPTPP will give access to commerce with 11 Indo-Pacific countries, but what exactly does it mean for the UK's place in a post-Brexit world?

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Can the UK government finally get the Online Safety Bill across the finish line?

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Josh Bates
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This week on the podcast, Conan D'Arcy is joined by Associate Josh Bates to check in on the UK's Online Safety Bill. The landmark internet safety legislation has advanced to the House of Lords, where further changes are expected to be proposed and debated while members approach the end of the parliamentary session and a looming general election. Meanwhile, social…

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How will EU-UK normalisation impact financial services trade?

Financial Services

Stephen Adams
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The agreement of the Windsor Framework on the Northern Ireland protocol is an important step towards ‘normalisation’ of relations between the EU and the UK. One immediate consequence has been speculation that the EU and the UK may disinter and sign the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on cooperation in financial services that stalled in mid-2021. While normalisation is…

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Could Central Bank Digital Currencies change the way we pay for trade?

Financial Services

David Song
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The growing debate around Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) has begun to focus increasingly on the question of cross-border payments. A number of pilots around the world have begun to test the practical questions of whether CBDCs can improve global trade invoicing. These discussions and the review of pilots have generally been confined to CBDC specialists and a…

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Former FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler on the future of US tech regulation and the AI revolution

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Conan D'Arcy
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This week, Senior Practice Director Conan D'Arcy is joined by Tom Wheeler, former Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission and a Senior Adviser at Global Counsel. Serving under President Barack Obama, Tom was a key figure in pushing the US adoption of net neutrality and remains active in the debates driving US tech regulation.

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