Emerging markets meaning

This Checklist outlines the practical considerations for a franchisor when launching an international franchise. A franchisor may wish to grow its network abroad to tap new territories and emerging markets, usually by entering into an international franchise agreement or an international development agreement. Nevertheless, the agreement and the structuring of the international arrangement can also present challenges and complications. This Checklist identifies some of the practical issues that a franchisor planning to expand overseas might encounter. Issues The franchise agreement will state that the franchisee must run the business in line with the franchisor’s operations manual. However, the business method described in that manual may not have been piloted or proven in the overseas territory. It will have been devised on assumptions tailored to the local market. A franchisee may therefore struggle to implement the method in the overseas territory if reliant on those assumptions. A franchisee is often contractually obliged to use the marketing material supplied by the franchisor under the agreement...

In this issue: Key developments and materials Electricity and gas market regulation, licensing and taxation Renewable energy Capacity Market, balancing services and energy system flexibility Hydrogen, CCUS and emerging technologies Nuclear energy Planning issues in energy projects Air emissions, efficiency, and climate change New and updated content Dates for your diary Trackers Energy resources on Lexis+® Daily and weekly news alerts Key developments and materials DESNZ announces accelerated measures to boost UK energy security DESNZ has unveiled a suite of actions to reinforce and speed up the UK’s energy security in light of events in the Middle East. For the first time, ‘plug-in solar’ will be permitted in the UK. The department plans to advance the next annual renewables auction to July 2026 and has confirmed that the government will adopt the Fingleton Review’s recommendations to hasten delivery of nuclear power stations. It has also moved to safeguard consumers, working...

In this issue: Company disclosures, records and registers Accounts and reports Corporate governance Equity capital markets Restructuring Daily and weekly news alerts New and updated content Dates for your diary Trackers Useful information Company disclosures, records and registers Companies and Limited Liability Partnerships (Annotation) Regulations 2025 SI 2025/573 These Regulations specify defined circumstances in which the Registrar of Companies may, or must, place annotations on information held on the companies register. They take effect in part on 9 June 2025, and in full when CA 2006, s 790LA comes into force. See: LNB News 15/05/2025 7. Protection and Disclosure of Personal Information (Amendment) Regulations 2025 SI 2025/Draft These draft Regulations broaden the situations in which individuals can ask the Registrar of Companies to protect personal data provided to the public companies register. Where protection applies, the Registrar is prohibited from releasing the relevant details or making them available to the public...

The review extends the FCA's Artificial Intelligence Lab work and reiterates its often-stated view that current regulatory regimes strike a fair balance: granting firms room to innovate and compete through AI, while retaining enough supervisory bite to control risks arising from deployment. The call for input sets out four linked themes that interrelate closely: the trajectory of AI technology, encompassing more capable, autonomous and agentic systems the prospective effects of AI on markets and firms, including shifts in competition and market structure and dynamics emerging consumer patterns, covering how AI might enhance outcomes, introduce novel risks, influence behaviours and reshape the demand and delivery of financial services, and future regulatory responses, including how regulators may need to adapt to keep retail markets functioning well That last theme is, by some distance, the most contentious point raised. While the financial regulators appear presently committed to a pro-innovation yet risk-aware stance, the House of Commons Treasury Select Committee warns this course could...

What does this Practice Note cover? This Practice Note sets out a high-level guide to foreign exchange (FX) derivatives and how they support currency hedging. It reviews the principal FX instruments and their applications, and explains the difference between deliverable and non-deliverable structures. FX forwards, FX swaps, and FX options It also summarises the documentation frameworks commonly used in FX derivatives markets, including: International Foreign Exchange Master Agreement (IFEMA) International Foreign Exchange and Currency Option (IFXCO) International Currency Options Market (ICOM) Cross Product Master Agreement (CPMA) Additionally, it considers the regulatory environment, the FX Global Code, and the emerging technologies shaping the FX derivatives landscape. What is a FX derivative? An FX derivative is a contract whose payoff is linked to the exchange rates between two or more currencies. The FX market runs into the trillions of dollars and includes a significant volume of FX derivative contracts. Most FX trades involve the...

This Practice Note This Practice Note explores warehouse financing as a strand of structured trade finance, enabling a producer or trader to raise funds against its own goods stored in a warehouse. In a standard arrangement, a lender advances a loan to a producer as borrower, and the borrower’s obligations are secured over the stored goods. If put together correctly, the structure is self-liquidating: the loan is cleared from the sale proceeds of the charged goods in the borrower’s ordinary course of trade. Alternatively, a lender provides funds to a trader, as borrower, who uses the money to buy goods from suppliers or producers and then stores those goods in a warehouse. This set-up may suit a trader that has settled with its supplier but cannot afford to store the goods received until it has accumulated enough for an international shipment. The lender would typically lend on a revolving basis, with the borrower’s obligations secured against the goods held in the warehouse. The goods are sold and the...

The purpose of internal control Internal control exists to support the identification, handling and mitigation of risk in settings where a company’s aims, internal organisation and the broader markets in which it operates are constantly shifting, adapting to changing conditions, and the risks it encounters will evolve over time and across cycles. Although a company cannot abolish these risks, a robust internal control system is central and fundamental to managing risks that are material to achieving its business objectives and to helping safeguard shareholders’ investment interests and the company’s assets and resources. Under the Financial Reporting Council’s UK Corporate Governance Code (UKCG Code), the board of a premium listed company must establish processes to manage risk effectively, oversee the internal control framework, and define the nature and scale of the principal risks it is prepared to assume in pursuing its strategic objectives. In addition, the Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rules (DTRs) require an issuer to make a range of disclosures about internal control and risk management systems within its...