Month: February 2018

We have an absolutely vibrant global immigration law practice.

Our immigration practice deals with all aspects of immigration, nationality, human rights and European Union law. We also have a particular specialism in relation to work related to the EU Citizens’ Directive. We excel at representing clients and producing results for our immigration clients. To be sure, our longstanding immigration law practice is the envy of the region.

Understanding the constantly changing fabric of immigration law requires sound advice. So let us be your guide to finding the right direction to get your visa, settlement or citizenship needs sorted out.

We have a niche in business related immigration and provide services to corporate and high net worth clients on investor and entrepreneur visas under the points-based system (PBS). We undertake instructions in the Tier 1 space of the PBS and act routinely for Tier 1 (Investor), Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) and Tier 1 (Exceptional Talent) applicants.

We also undertake work under Tier 2, Tier 4 and Tier 5 of the PBS. We are specialists in making entry clearance applications for spouses, dependant relatives and children in the context of the Immigration Rules in the UK. We also work in all areas of British nationality law and are experts on historic claims to British nationality.

Please visit our globally celebrated Immigration Law Blog for updates on a wealth of immigration law commentary and case law analysis. Topics include commentary on Luxembourg, Strasbourg and UK case law, analysis of the immigration rules and exposition of emerging legal developments in the vast field of immigration law.

We also accept instructions in immigration work relating to Australia, Brazil, Canada, Ireland, Thailand, US, New Zealand and numerous other countries.

As a part of our human rights and refugee law work, in collaboration with the Pakistan Institute of International Affairs, International Thai Foundation and Sarwar Hasan Foundation we are setting up a mechanism to lobby the Pakistani state to sign the Refugee Convention 1951.

In addition to our strengths in UK and EU immigration, we also specialise in US immigration in relation to:

• Intra-company transfers
• Investors
• Business visitors
• Unmarried partners
• Airline employees
• Diplomats
• Students
• Professional workers
• Journalists
• Individuals of extraordinary ability
• Athletes, artists and entertainers
• Interns and trainees
• Domestic workers
• Applications to US embassies worldwide
• Visa application interviews
• Treaty NAFTA visas (Canadian and Mexican nationals)
• Spouses
• Fiancés/fiancées
• Unaccompanied children
• Green cards
• Naturalisation
• Waivers of inadmissibility
• ESTA application denial

Conduct costs metrics are essential to ranking and understanding Pakistan’s banking industry.

As measured by the CCP Research Foundation, in the aftermath of the collapse of Lehman Brothers seven years ago, global “conduct costs” are approaching stratospheric levels and are presently estimated to be $300 billion. But none of the data reflected in the final sum can be traced to Pakistan – a market economy whose legal system closely resembles the English legal system, despite the politically retrograde Islamisation of the 1980s – in clear and unambiguous terms. As a law cutting edge firm, we have the ambition of articulating a conduct costs’ model in Pakistan, a developing country which is in need of such analysis so that its 192 million people are put in a position to make informed choices about banking and financial services.

In constitutional terms, a sound basis for the study of conduct costs can be found in Articles 37 and 38 of the Constitution of Pakistan 1973. Laid down in Part II: Fundamental Rights and Principles of Policy, Chapter 2: Principles of Policy of the Constitution, Article 37 requires the state to promote social justice and Article 38 imposes on the state a duty to promote the people’s social and economic well-being. On an alternative level, in The End of Alchemy, Professor Mervyn King relies on all his experience as a central banker to explain the wider dynamics of the global economy. He invites us to embrace the underlying theoretical argument that banks are “the Achilles heel of capitalism”. This attractive proposition is as advantageous a place to begin a study of the banks in Pakistan as it is in the west.

In a country which is plagued by corruption and ranks poorly in that regard – i.e. 126 out of 174 on Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index 2014 – it is more than arguable that the promotion of social justice and economic well-being require an analysis which reveals the exact nature of “bad” bank behaviour to the public. Indeed, strong grounds exists for constitutional justice to be imparted to the people of Pakistan by allowing them access to a “league table” for banking for their country. It will serve towards their empowerment and the bare bones of such a study can be identified in the activities of the regulatory bodies discussed below.

Of course, so as to ensure that the exercise does not descend into bank bashing, “good” behaviour (if any) to help the environment or other inequalities in Pakistan, which is mostly poor, can also be factored into our analysis. For example, a press release from 2014 informs us that:

As part of its commitment to education and social welfare in the MENA region, Deutsche Bank’s Middle East Foundation is partnering with The Citizens Foundation in Pakistan to set up its third “Deutsche Bank Campus” in the rural area of Razi Dero, Gambat, District Khairpur.

This new secondary unit will be equipped to teach graduates from three primary campuses of The Citizens Foundation which are located at very close proximity to the new campus.

As a starting point on the ground, the following regulatory framework is relevant in bringing Pakistan within the scope of a conduct costs study. First, the State Bank of Pakistan is the banking regulator. Some people may argue that, in contrast to the UK and the US for example, Pakistan does not as yet have the specialist law enforcement agencies such as the British Serious Fraud Office, Financial Conduct Authority or Prudential Regulation Authority or the American Commodities Future Trading Commission, New York Department of Financial Services etc.

But, on any view, the framework for oversight is distinctly Anglo-American and some other regulators and law enforcement agencies include the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan, the Banking Ombudsman and the Federal Investigation Agency (which is the equivalent of the British National Crime Agency and the American Federal Bureau of Investigation).

Perhaps potential also exists for the Competition Commission of Pakistan to play a part in the proposed research; it is an independent quasi-regulatory, quasi-judicial body that helps ensure healthy competition between companies for the benefit of the economy and serves to promote fair trade in the market.

Moreover, any remaining regulatory and law enforcement lacunae may potentially be filled by the national corruption watchdog, i.e. the National Accountability Bureau, but we must not shirk from accepting that the corrupt nature of law enforcement agencies in Pakistan means that as analysts of governance indulging in the monitoring of bank behaviour it would be futile for us to rely on the state to put things right.

The Ombudsman’s annual reports show that sanctions are imposed on banks for wrongdoing. The reports are quite detailed about the type of complaints made and catalogue the thanks and gratitude of those who have been provided redress by the Ombudsman whose core values are responsiveness, compassion, flexibility, trustworthiness and transparency.

The complaints detailed in the reports provide a good building block to study conduct costs but are “limited” in the sense that they concerned mostly with everyday consumer issues such as ATMs and credit cards rather. Yet complaints involving fraud, corruption, inefficiency and dereliction of duty are also lodged and resolved by the Ombudsman and in 2014 there were 4506 complaints, an increase from 4,238 complaints the year before. Since 2005, there have been 33,064 complaints of which 11,120 were “formal complaints” and 21,944 were “informal complaints”. The difference between the two types of complaints is that the former are not in the form prescribed by the Banking Companies Ordinance 1962 whereas the latter are in the prescribed form.

Barclays and HSBC have recently sold their operations in the country but a number of foreign banks operate in the country, i.e. Citi, Deutsche, Standard Chartered and ICBC.

It is an internationally known fact that over the past five years, the major banks have paid more than $15 billion for breaching sanctions against countries such as Pakistan’s neighbour Iran. In that regard, Standard Chartered’s share is $669 million and other figures for fines imposed include: BNP Paribas $8.9 billion, HSBC $1.9 billion, Commerzbank $1.45 billion, Crédit Agricole $787 million, ING $619 million and Credit Suisse $536 million.

Taking the case of Standard Chartered, which partially originates in Kolkata (India), in relation to Pakistan it is obvious from the bank’s annual report 2015 that it does not consciously self-report any misconduct which may be attributable to it and the words “conduct”, “ethics”, “transparency” do not appear in its report. However, on page 65 of the 2015 report we can see that the SBP imposed penalties of 40,725,000 rupees (£270,547) on the bank; which is a big increase from only 835,000 rupees (£5,550) in 2014. These costs are clearly conduct costs. The CCP Research Foundation’s 2015 results show that internationally Standard Chartered incurred £.96 billion in conduct costs during 2010-2014. Though arguably “insignificant”, the figures from Pakistan are in fact reflected in that sum. Moreover, the same is true for conduct costs incurred by Deutsche bank which – for the same period – amount to £6 billion and involve things such as benchmark rigging.

The reason that these Pakistani fines are included is that where liability has been determined by judgment, settlement or award – as opposed to a provision for a prospective, albeit quantifiable, liability – it is intended to include all conduct costs, wherever incurred. This is because the methodology used takes account of the figure for conduct costs incurred as disclosed by the bank in its consolidated accounts (at group level). The CCP Research Foundation therefore aims to identify this figure in the accounts (or rather the best available proxy to a “total conduct costs” figure as it can ascertain given the lack of specific disclosure (and tendency to aggregate with other, irrelevant, expenses)).

The Pakistani fine would therefore fall, in principle, for inclusion within the group level disclosure. But, of course, despite this inclusion we have no conduct costs analysis for Pakistan individually as a country and one is quite desperately needed to make sense of the banks operating in this large and vibrant society.

Just to be absolutely sure of what we are discussing, as defined by the CCP Research Foundation, conduct costs are all costs borne by a Bank in connection with any of the following:

(i) regulatory proceedings, specifically (but not exhaustively):
(a) fines or comparable financial penalties imposed on the Bank by any Regulator;
(b) any sum paid to a Regulator or at the direction of a Regulator in settlement of proceedings of any kind;
(c) any sum paid to, or set aside to be paid to, any third party or parties to the extent required by any Regulator; and
(d) any sum paid, or set aside, for the purchase (or exchange) of securities or other assets to the extent required by a Regulator and (if such information is available) to the extent such sum exceeds the open market value of such securities or other assets as at the date of purchase;
(ii) any costs, losses or expenses which are directly related to an event or series of events or conduct or behaviour of the Bank or a group of individuals employed by the Bank for which any fine or comparable penalty has been imposed or any censure issued by a Regulator;
(iii) any sum that has become payable as a result of, or in connection with, any breach of any code of conduct or similar document entered into, or committed to, at the request of, or required to be entered into or committed to by, any Regulator or any public, trade or professional body;
(iv) any loss of income or other financial loss attributable to a requirement imposed by a Regulator to place money on deposit with a central bank or other institution at below the market rate of interest, being a requirement imposed in connection with a breach of law or Regulatory requirement;
(v) any sum paid in connection with any litigation (whether ordered to be paid by a court or tribunal or in settlement of proceedings) where the litigation involved allegations of material wrongdoing or misconduct by senior officers or employees of an institution which were not refuted;
(vi) any other sum, cost or expense, not falling within any of (i) to (v) above that is paid pursuant to an order or requirement of a Regulator and which is a result of any breach of any regulatory requirement or law.

Overall, using the above building blocks it is quite possible to produce high-level analysis in Pakistan using the foundation provided by the CCP Research Foundation, though the exact mechanics may need to be modified to fit the challenges posed by the fact that Pakistan is a developing country. In addition to the international banks identified above, there are many other smaller banks from the Middle East and Asia as well; below is a full list of banks in Pakistan whose systematic study will provide rewards as the country develops and embraces “full-blown” capitalism in the years to come.

In private banking, players can be listed as Allied Bank Limited, Askari Bank, Bank Alfalah, Bank AL Habib, Faysal Bank, HBL, Habib Metropolitan Bank, JS Bank, MCB Bank Limited, NIB Bank, Samba Bank Limited, Silk Bank Limited, Soneri Bank, Summit Bank and United Bank Limited.

The “Islamic” banks include, Meezan Bank Limited, Al Baraka Bank, Bank Islami Pakistan Limited, Burj Bank and Dubai Islamic Bank.

The public sector banks are First Women Bank, National Bank of Pakistan, Sindh Bank, Bank of Khyber and The Bank of Punjab.

There are also a dozen microfinance banks, namely Khushhali Bank Limited, The First Microfinance Bank Limited, NRSP Microfinance Bank, Tameer Microfinance Bank Limited, Apna Microfinance Bank Limited, FINCA Microfinance Bank, Pak-Oman Microfinance Bank Limited, Tameer Microfinance Bank Limited, The First MicroFinanceBank Limited, The Punjab Provincial Cooperative Bank Limited, U Microfinance Bank Limited and Waseela Microfinance Bank.

Using the above as a foundation, along with friends in the CCPRF, we hope to etch out a fuller existence for Pakistan in the important area of conduct costs. We think that a league table for banking and financial services can only be a boon to Pakistan and benefit the country in the long run.

We possess unrivalled expertise in corporate crime and regulation.

We have a high-level expertise in all forms of company law and its practice in multiple jurisdictions such as the EU, UK, US and South Asia. We excel in white collar crime cases. We are known as a premier outfit with an excellent reputation for its representation of individuals including company directors, officers and employees. As a boutique firm offering a large team with extensive experience in handling corporate criminal investigations, we frequently advise on complex commercial fraud, regulatory enforcement and money laundering cases. We also have a strong capability in handling cartel investigations.

We routinely act on behalf of those accused of high-level financial crime and our lawyers are accomplished in defending allegations of insider trading, tax fraud and misleading corporate statements. Notably, our founding partner Asad Ali Khan regularly contributes on cutting edge comparative corporate crime issues to the world’s premier corporate law publication The Company Lawyer (Sweet & Maxwell).

For example in his recent piece Benchmarks and regulation: Key lessons of UK reforms for South Asia (Comp. Law. 2017, 38(11), 335-342), he discusses the need for regulatory reform in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka to combat the risks of benchmark manipulation by banking staff posed by technological advances, and the lessons to be drawn from the UK’s experience. The article also reviews UK reforms on benchmark submission and administration under the Financial Services Act 2012, the current lack of regulatory reforms in South Asian states, and the UK measures that could be adopted.

In an earlier piece, Personal accountability in Pakistani financial services – a briefing on the Companies Bill 2015 and lessons from the UK Senior Managers Regime (Comp. Law. 2016, 37(6), 193-194), he shed much needed light on developments in Pakistan’s company legislation and argued that cosmetic changes connected to directors’ duties alone are incapable of improving personal accountability. In comparative perspective, the he argued that Pakistan must learn from the UK Senior Managers Regime and concluded that its adoption will reinforce transparency and improve responsibility in Pakistan’s corporate and financial services sector.

Our superb international footprint ensures an ability to assist easily on complex cross-border matters. Our areas of strength include advising on complex corporate investigations and regulatory work. We have a most impressive record of handling anti-bribery and corruption matters for blue-chip clients from a range of sectors.

Because of our first-rate experience in dealing with high-profile investigations by major prosecutors, we are a popular choice for a raft of household-name entities including banks, manufacturers and government departments. We are accomplished in advising on cross-border regulatory investigations involving alleged rate manipulation, as well as sanctions matters.

Our criminal lawyers are extremely talented, sophisticated and well educated. They are renowned for their skills to strategically advise clients and safeguard their interests against adverse publicity. Our international reputation is excellent and we are active in representing clients in multiple jurisdictions in cases relating to extradition, red notices and other criminal proceedings.

We are leading experts in the field of constitutional law and human rights.

Pakistan’s weaknesses as state have developed from the fact that the country’s Constituent Assembly failed to settle a constitution in a timely manner. This failure led to the democratic process being suspended and usurped by the executive by virtue of the application of coercive tactics with the judiciary which, in turn, devised the “doctrine of necessity” to legitimise violence and dictatorship.

However, now Pakistan stands at a critical juncture in its history and, as shown by the dismissal of Nawaz Sharif as prime minister as a consequence of the Panama Papers case, the judiciary is eager for justice to be done. Nowhere in the law of Pakistan is the implementation of justice more important than in the realm of fundamental rights guaranteed by the 1973 Constitution.

As is well known, the enforcement of guaranteed constitutional and international human rights is our core specialism. The Constitution is intended to guide Pakistan’s law and its political culture, and system. It identifies the state (its physical existence and its borders), people and their fundamental rights, the state’s constitutional law and orders, and also the constitutional structure and establishment of state institutions and the country’s armed forces. The Pakistani Parliament cannot make any laws which may be repugnant or contrary to the Constitution, however the Constitution itself may be amended by a two-thirds majority in both the houses of the bicameral Parliament.

Laws inconsistent with or in derogation of fundamental rights are void and the following rights are constitutionally guaranteed in Pakistan:

• Security of person
• Safeguards as to arrest and detention
• Right to fair trial
• Prohibition on slavery and forced labour
• Protection against retrospective punishment
• Protection against double punishment and self-incrimination
• Inviolability of dignity of man
• Freedom of movement
• Freedom of assembly
• Freedom of association
• Freedom of trade, business or profession
• Freedom of speech
• Right to information
• Freedom to profess religion and to manage religious institutions
• Safeguard against taxation for purposes of any particular religion
• Safeguards as to educational institutions in respect of religion
• Protection of private property
• Equality of citizens
• Right to education
• Non-discrimination in respect of access to public places
• Safeguard against discrimination in services
• Preservation of language, script and culture

The High Courts and the Supreme Courts in Pakistan, and indeed all over South Asia, have wide-ranging powers of judicial review which allow these courts not only to unilaterally safeguard guaranteed constitutional rights but also to entertain highly contested litigation in the public interest.

We excel in public and human rights law and are able to assist clients to obtain numerous public law reliefs and remedies from the courts including, but not limited to, prerogative writs, writ of mandamus, writ of certiorari, writ of habeas corpus, writ of procedendo, writ of prohibition and the writ of quo warranto and so forth.

The High Courts are empowered to issue these writs under article 199 of the Constitution. Similarly, the Supreme Court enjoys original jurisdiction under article 184 to enforce the fundamental rights conferred by part 2, chapter 1 of the Constitution.