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With interest rates still low, yield-hungry investors are flocking to global debt capital markets. Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer’s Peter Allen, Mark Trapnell and Denise Ryan discuss the key market drivers and reveal the next high-yield product

Michael M Wiseman and Elizabeth T Davy of Sullivan & Cromwell explore the increasingly hostile US enforcement climate for financial institutions

Sandro Núñez Stock options are a kind of option right granted to employees. They allow those employees, within a specified term, to acquire equity in the employing company at a price agreed on the date of the call option. Stock options are created with the purpose of securing an employee's long-term commitment to the company, either as a part of a compensation plan, as a standalone agreement with a key employee, or as part of an M&A transaction where the selling parties intend to stay as part of the company's management.

Beatriz del C Cabal Until recently, when clients inquired about the steps to complete a spin-off of a Panamanian corporation, the answer was that the Commercial Code and Corporate Law did not regulate the matter. Since it was unregulated, clients were very sceptical about moving forward with this process, more so because of the uncertainty of the tax and commercial implications that this operation could carry. Since Law 85 of November 22 2012 was published, that uncertainty has gone. This new law regulates corporate spin-offs, for all types of Panamanian corporate legal entities, by the division of all or part of their assets and their transfer to an existing corporation or to a new one created specifically for that purpose, as long as the companies have the same shareholders.

Nonye Uwazie The recognition and enforcement of judgments rendered by courts of other jurisdictions is an important tool of international trade integration. International trade participants are of the view that such domestic recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments provides oil in the wheels of trade. Recognition is a precondition for enforcement of foreign judgments with the criteria for such recognition stipulated in domestic legislation. In Nigeria, the requirement for recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments is contained in the Foreign Judgments (Reciprocal Enforcement) Act, Cap 152, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 1990. Parties wishing to enforce foreign judgments in Nigeria must, as a first step, apply to have the judgment registered in the appropriate court. The time limit for such registration recently came up for resolution before the Nigerian Supreme Court in VAB Petroleum Inc v Mr. Mike Momah (2013) LPELR-SC. 99/2004.

Indonesia's Investment Coordination Board (BKPM) recently issued a new Regulation (Reg 5 2013) concerning Guidelines and Procedures for Licenses and Non-Licenses for Capital Investment, dated April 8 2013. The regulation presents new items that may impact new investment for establishing a foreign investment company as well as existing foreign investment companies (known as PMA companies:basically Indonesian incorporated companies that have one or more foreign direct shareholders).

Daniel Futej Cyril Hric For the past several weeks, the European banking sector has been facing a relatively specific situation where the owners of accounts in certain banks in Cyprus had to forfeit their deposits in a manner usually seen when a bank goes bankrupt. On the other hand, one of the effective tools used by EU member states in combating tax fraud and evasion is a restriction on cash payments. This means that parties are forced to settle their monetary obligations by means of bank transfer. Slovakia also adopted a law late last year expressly prohibiting cash payments exceeding a specified amount – Act No 394/2012 on restrictions on cash payments, which came into force on January 1 2013. The Act considers cash payments to be the handing over of notes or coins, in cash, in the euro or other currency, and the acceptance of that cash by the recipient. The limit on cash payments made between natural persons who are not entrepreneurs is €15,000 ($19,600). If the parties are legal persons or natural person entrepreneurs, however, the limit on cash payments between such parties is €5,000. If a cash payment is split into several instalments, where all the instalments are associated with one and the same legal arrangement, the instalments will be taken as a whole for the determination of the value of the cash payment.

Debt capital markets and project finance underpin Africa’s rise as a global investment hub. Here’s how to navigate the sectors’ unique challenges

The EU needs a uniform conflict rule for the enforceability of assignments against third parties. Here are the options

Mexico’s regulatory overhaul is expected to touch every aspect of its financial services system. The reforms aim to benefit banks, and could be implemented in weeks