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After flooding regulators with comment letters, the market was hoping for a more flexible Volcker Rule. All indications suggest that will not be the case

The bank reorganisation navigated local law issues surrounding subordination and cram-downs

The National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) recently promulgated the Revised Guidelines on the Exercise of Free and Prior Informed Consent (FPIC) and Related Processes (NCIP Administrative Order No 3, series of 2012), which repealed The Free and Prior Informed Consent Guidelines of 2006.

Bertha Xiomara Ortega Since 2008, Nicaragua has been modernising the administration of labour justice. The Ministry of Labor started the modernisation with the implementation of an oral process for the fulfilment of certain formalities required before it, such as termination of employment contracts for justified cause, collective suspensions and business closures. The implementation of this oral process has been successful because it reduces and simplifies the processes. In the judicial field, the National Labor Court of Appeals was established in 2011 and has national jurisdiction to hear as the second and final instance all the individual and collective disputes of legal matters which arise from the employment relationship between employers and workers. The National Labor Court of Appeals was established to provide legal certainty to employers and workers; it is a specialised labour court that will unify the jurisprudence on this matter. Before its creation, labour jurisprudence was divided into different courts of the country; the authorities in charge of labour decisions were the civil courts of appeals of various jurisdictions.

Chinonyelum Uwazie The OECD estimates in its Infrastructure to 2030 Report (2007) that the annual infrastructure investment requirements for electricity, road and rail transport, telecommunications and water are likely to average around 3.5% of world GDP through to 2030. The report estimates that a large share of these investments will be taken in the developing world where countries such as China, India and Brazil will be spending billions of dollars on infrastructure to underpin their booming economies and satisfy the growing aspirations of their population. Nigeria is part of the developing world and is said to have one of the fastest growing economies in the African continent with over 140 million people and an average economic growth rate of 3.5% per year in the last few years. With such a thriving economy and an equally growing population comes the need for investments in areas such as electricity, road and rail transport as well as telecommunication. Recent projects at the federal and state level including the light rail mass transit project and the cable car transit project in Lagos State, Nigeria, are a testament to the efforts of the government to meet the growing needs of the population.

Poland started its adventure with public private partnerships (PPPs) in 2005. The then enacted Public-Private Partnership Act introduced the concept of PPPs into the Polish legal system. It was, however, overregulated and missed the required secondary legislation.

Nicholas Chang Linette Zhang Xiao Lin The Singapore central bank has proposed changes to the regulations of the Securities and Futures Act and Financial Advisers Act as part of its efforts to enhance and refine the country's regulatory framework. One of the key changes made by the central bank is the extension of the statutory obligations to ensure effective control and segregation of duties to mitigate conflicts of interest that may arise from the operations of a capital markets services (CMS) licence holder or a licensed financial adviser to the CMS licence holder or financial adviser, respectively. Under the present law, these statutory obligations are imposed on a director and chief executive officer of a CMS licence holder or a financial adviser only. The central bank found that the control failures are often not solely attributable to chief executive officers and directors. The proposed amendments therefore seek to extend these statutory obligations to CMS licence holders, together with their directors and senior management to ensure proper institutions and implementation of risk management and compliance systems.

HK’s new sponsor rules could lock up funding as well as sponsors That Hong Kong wants to protect the reputations of its H-share and A-share companies is understandable – particularly following the issues that have troubled US-listed ChinaCos. But while listing location is rarely chosen on the basis of a regulator's vetting process, Hong Kong's new sponsor regulations may have made initial public offerings (IPOs) prohibitively expensive. Hong Kong's sponsor regulations have left small firms with few options. The rules might have noble underpinnings, but their provisions are heavy-handed. The risk sponsors take means that we are likely to see far fewer small IPOs getting done in Hong Kong.

Ten years after its creation, has Hong Kong’s Securities & Futures Appeals Tribunal proved an effective review panel?

The government of Mongolia's recent Regulation S/Rule 144A debt offering marked the first time the country has tapped the sovereign bond market.