The 2009 Financial Crisis Guide

• Editorial

  Inaugural (and hopefully last) edition

• Introduction: ICMA: Open questions

  David Hiscock, Senior Advisor for Regulatory Policy at the International Capital Market Association (ICMA), lays out questions that still need to be answered to deliver more effective financial supervision

• Introduction: Sifma: Keep a global perspective

  Sifma's Lorraine Charlton, soon to be managing director in the new AFME, says global coordination is paramount to new regional and national regulation

• Austria: How the State succeeded

  Markus Fellner and Paul Luiki of Fellner Wratzfeld & Partners analyse the government reaction to the crisis

• European Union: The EU response

  Edward Greene, James Modrall and Andrew Shutter of Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP discuss the EU's regulatory response to the financial crisis in a global context

• Finland: Favourable for private workouts

  Juha-Pekka Mutanen and Mika J Lehtimäki of Dittmar & Indrenius explain how to restructure distressed companies in Finland

• Hungary: Modifying the rules

  Hungarian insolvency law has been amended to deal with the impact of the economic downturn. Csilla Andrékó and Gábor Antal of Kinstellar look at how the changes work

• Japan: Benefit or burden?

  Taro Tsunoda and Ayako Kuyama of Anderson Mori & Tomotsune discuss regulation of credit ratings agencies, and warn it may discourage structural innovation

• Mexico: Guarantees of bank deposits

  Alejandro Sainz and Diego Martínez Rueda-Chapital of Cervantes Aguilar-Alvarez y Sainz chart the legislative changes in Mexican banking

• Norway: The lender versus the borrower

  Fred Litsheim of Kvale & Co discusses some international syndication issues Norwegian agent banks found themselves dealing with during the credit crunch

• Portugal: Restoring confidence

  The effects of the financial crisis on banking are now familiar; primarily risk aversion and slow lending. Paulo Câmara of Sérvulo & Associados looks at how the Portuguese government reacted to mitigate the situation

• Romania: Relaxed regulations

  Razvan Stoicescu and Silviu Cojocaru of Bulboaca & Asociatii discuss regulatory changes since the financial crisis

• Spain: Urgent changes to the insolvency framework

  Alberto Núñez-Lagos and Ángel Alonso of Uría Menéndez look at how Spain’s new bankruptcy laws are alleviating the worries of the financial crisis

• Sweden: The Swedish authorities takes a stand

  Marcus Johansson of Gernandt & Danielsson Advokatbyrå discusses the Swedish authorities' role during the latest financial crisis

• Switzerland: Alternative financing sources

  Johannes Bürgi, Thomas Meister and Lukas Wyss of Walder Wyss & Partners describe how banks refinanced Swiss assets when the Interbank lending markets came also to a complete halt

• United Kingdom: Supporting and safeguarding

  The UK Government's efforts to stabilise the financial system and increase confidence have been many and varied. Matthew Tobin and Guy O'Keefe of Slaughter and May look at how the schemes are working