Maria Jose Cole The Costa Rican Securities Regulator (Superintendencia General de Valores or Sugeval), through the National Council for Supervision of the Financial System (Consejo Nacional de Supervisión del Sistema Financiero or Conassif), recently adopted amendments to the rules governing project finance and securitisation in Costa Rica. The amendments make structural and operational reforms to address the concerns market participants have reiterated regarding limitations set out in the previous regulations, on topics such as asset collateral, related party financing and government approvals.
Panagiotis Drakopoulos Far from the saturated marketplace of Europe, the economies of south-east Europe (SEE) have managed to secure a relatively stable growth potential through targeted financial policy reforms. The years before the financial crisis saw a large investment boom in the region by means of capital inflows, inevitably fuelling market bubbles, such as the one that popped six years ago in the Romanian real estate market. Despite the fact that the financial and liquidity crisis may have bucked the upward trend in the real-estate sector, SEE remains a top European destination for short-term and long-term investment opportunities, multiplying its regional growth dynamics. Regionwise, SEE countries seem to border the rest of Europe both in terms of distance and mentality, as opposed to Asian and African countries.
As the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision announces its final major Basel III reform, IFLR's poll asks whether the capital requirements will prevent another crisis
Hero Sinanidou-Sideridou An effective regulatory scheme had been much needed for the games of chance market in Greece. In March 2011, the Minister of Finance publicly announced that the annual illegal turnover of games of chance in Greece was estimated at about €10 billion ($13.4 billion), explicitly highlighting that this situation should be addressed by the Greek government. Law 4002/2011 reflected an initial attempt for regulation of this market. Since then, at least nine laws have amended or supplemented the basic provisions of Law 4002/2011. The role of market regulator has been undertaken by the Gaming Supervision and Control Commission (GSCC), an independent administrative authority established in 2012.
To reduce the public administration's indebtedness as defined in EU Regulation 479/2009, the Ministry of Economy and Finance can issue government bonds to raise funds. These can be granted to Italian regions for the repurchase of outstanding regional bonds with an average residual life of at least five years and an outstanding nominal amount higher than €250 million ($324 million) and for the early termination of associated derivative transactions.
