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China’s asset management industry is seeing a drive towards expansion and unification. But will it benefit all parties?

Paris was a hive of activity last month with the biggest news being WHITE & CASE's capture of five lawyers from Linklaters' capital markets team, including some of the firm's leading lights. Three partners – Cenzi Gargaro, Philippe Herbelin and Séverin Robillard – are joined by consultant and former market star lawyer Gilles Endréo, and associate Thomas Le Vert who joins as a partner.

Asia’s securities regulators are firmly focused on protecting retail investors. But there are limits to what they can achieve

Law number 228, of December 24 2012 (the 2013 Stability Law) has introduced provisions regarding a new financial transactions tax (FTT) as part of the austerity measures and tax hikes recently implemented.

Mian Muhammad Nazir Most of Islamic finance products and services, particularly financing transactions, necessitate procuring an insurance cover (Takaful). This is to mitigate certain inherent risks in underlying contracts or structures that cannot otherwise be excluded or mitigated in a Sharia compliant manner. The Takaful model for insurance is based on the principle of mutual cooperation and indemnification. Therefore, Takaful cover can easily be used to mitigate market and credit risks in many Sharia nominate financing contracts, without breaching the mandatory Sharia principles which prohibit exclusion or mitigation of certain risks in such contracts. In some commonly used structures for sukuk and investment products, the proceeds of Takaful cover are the only source of payment for the investors in the event of total loss of the underlying assets. Takaful has a critical role in the growth and success of the Islamic banking and finance industry. Therefore, it is very important that the Takaful industry is capable of satiating the increasing demand for Takaful products that are compatible with the profile of risks intended to be mitigated under various Sharia nominate contracts.

Daniel Futej Rudolf Sivak This article provides a brief overview of important legislative changes in Slovak tax legislation which have recently come into effect. Based on the amendment to the Income Tax Act, as of January 1 2013, Slovakia no longer has a flat rate tax for companies (legal persons) and individuals. The tax rate for companies increased from 19% to 23%. As regards individuals (natural persons), two tax rates exist, and these will be applied in the following way:

Carlos Fradique Méndez Adriana Ospina-Jiménez Leading global financial institutions, asset managers and multi-product investment advisers are among the foreign entities that are increasingly showing their interest in promoting their cross-border, financial and securities-related services to Colombian investors. These foreign entities are especially targeting Colombian pension funds, the most important institutional investors in the Colombian financial sector, as they have approximately $65 billion AUM and growing at a 25% rate per year. The growing interest of these foreign entities is mainly due to (i) Colombia's sound economic growth (preliminary figures indicate that real GDP grew by approximately 4.8% during the first quarter, 4.9% during the second quarter and 2.1% during the third quarter of 2012); (ii) Colombia's high level of foreign direct investment; (iii) its reliable legal framework (as indicated in the World Banks's Doing Business 2013: "Colombia is a regional leader in narrowing the gap with the world's most efficient regulatory practice"); and, (iv) the upgrade to investment-grade status in 2011 by Moody's Investor Service and Fitch Ratings.

On January 21 2013, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) finally issued the (Investment Advisors) Regulations 2013 (Regulation). The Regulations seek to regulate the activity of 'investment advice'.

Forum shopping in sovereign insolvency proceedings, including NML v Argentina, reveals the need for an international insolvency regime

Financial institutions are at the centre of Europe’s incoming OTC reforms. But corporates must prepare too. Here’s how