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Janice Roepnarain Since the beginning of 2012 there have been several court cases involving the Authority for the Financial Markets (AFM), one of the Dutch financial markets supervisors, and offerors of so-called flash loans. These are short-term loans to consumers for small amounts of money, whereby the money is transferred to the consumers on the same day that the request for the loan is made, or within just a few days. The reason behind the greater focus of the AFM on offerors of flash loans is that the Act on Financial Supervision (AFS) was amended due to the implementation of the Consumer Credit Directive (2008/48/EC) in May 2011. The most important amendment is that before the implementation of the Consumer Credit Directive, all credit which was repayable within three months fell outside the scope of the AFS. After the implementation of the Directive, only credit which has to be repaid by a consumer within three months and whereby the costs payable by the consumer are insignificant fall outside the scope of the AFS. Due to this amendment, many offerors of credit to consumers who previously were not regulated are now obliged to obtain a licence from the AFM. Recent case law shows that offerors of flash loans and the AFM often disagree on whether the activities concerned qualify as the offering of credit, or which costs should be considered to be part of the costs of the credit. In the Consumer Credit Directive 'total cost of the credit to the consumer' means, in short, all costs and fees which the consumer is required to pay in connection with the credit agreement, except for notarial costs. Furthermore, costs in respect of ancillary services relating to the credit agreement are also included if, in addition, the conclusion of a service contract is compulsory in order to obtain the credit or to obtain it on the terms and conditions marketed.

Kai Hoshino The Financial Instruments and Exchange Act of Japan (FIEA) and the relevant cabinet office ordinance were amended, effective as of April 1 2012, to expand the English-language Disclosure Rules. Under the amended Rules, foreign companies may file both primary and continuous disclosure documents in English, together with limited Japanese translations and certain defined supplementary documents. The amended Rules are expected to substantially reduce the burden of Japanese-language disclosure obligations on foreign issuers. In Japan, subject to certain exceptions, companies that offer shares, stock acquisition rights, bonds and certain other financial instruments to the public are required to file a Securities Registration Statement with the Japanese authorities. Upon doing so, the company will become subject to the continuous disclosure regime, which includes the filing of a number of FIEA documents: an annual securities report, a semi-annual report or quarterly reports, and extraordinary reports. Those foreign companies that elect to satisfy all disclosure obligations in Japanese generally prepare the FIEA documents by translating into Japanese the disclosure documents submitted by such company in its home jurisdiction. This can be very onerous as it involves the translation of, among other items, the description of the company's business, its risk factors, the management discussion and analysis (MD&A) and the company's financial statements, together with the accompanying notes, from such company's disclosure documents into Japanese.

The August pricing of a dual-tranche $300 million bond offering by Mexican wind farms Oaxaca II and IV set a precedent for renewable energy financing in the region. Here’s why

Chinonyelum Uwazie Claims relating to interests constantly feature in suits filed before courts in Nigeria and have been the subject of several appeals over the years. While the courts have established precedents with regard to post-judgment interests owing mostly to the various rules of courts permitting such awards subject to court discretions, the practice relating to award of prejudgment interests remains uncertain. Save for a few isolated cases (Nigeria General Superintendence Co. Ltd v Nigerian Ports Authority (1990) I NWLR (Pt. 129) 741 and Adeyemi v Lan & Baker (Nig) Ltd (2000) 7 NWLR (Pt.663) 33), Nigerian courts have relied mostly on the common law holding in London Chatham & Dover Railway v S.E. Railway Co. [1893] AC 429 to hold that interest may be claimed only as of right where it is contemplated by agreement between parties, under mercantile custom, statute, or under a principle of equity such as breach of fiduciary relationship (see Ekwunife v Wayne (West Africa) Ltd (1989) 5 NWLR (Pt.122) 422.

Louise Hill Graham Natalie Bell Generally speaking, the British Virgin Islands (BVI) is an extremely flexible jurisdiction in relation to the granting and registering of security interests. One of the strengths of the BVI as an offshore jurisdiction is that it provides a stable platform for companies to provide collateral as security for debt finance and for the secured lenders to register and protect the priority of their interest. However, the largely unfettered right of business entities formed in the BVI to grant and register security interests is subject to one particular footnote which is easily overlooked. In the BVI, business entities are required to hold licences in order to conduct certain types of regulated business "in or from within" the Territory (meaning either through a BVI entity, or through a foreign entity physically operating within the jurisdiction). These licences are issued by the BVI Financial Services Commission (FSC) and regulate certain types of financial services activity. The principal types of regulated activity include banking business, trust business, insurance, investment business and company management business.

Distressed investors and their lawyers were still digesting the impact of Royal Decree Law 18/2002 (RDL 18/2002), dated May 11, on the restructuring and transfer of real estate assets from financial entities, when a draft of the July 2012 Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) agreed at EU Council level on financial-sector policy conditionality was disclosed some days ago. There is now an agreed MoU dated July 20 which sets up a broad variety of specific measures to reinforce financial stability in Spain in the context of the recapitalisation of the Spanish banking sector.

The UK Takeover Panel has published a consultation paper on new proposals to extend the jurisdiction of the UK Takeover Code to cover all public companies with registered offices in the UK, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man. If brought in, the plans are set to have a wide impact.

Spain’s banking crisis has accelerated Europe’s recovery and resolution planning proposal, but the EU banking union initiative may require major changes

Recent amendments to the EU prospectus framework make it easier to issue publicly-traded securities. But questions remain

The SEC has adopted requirements for a Consolidated Audit Trail, but it leaves critical questions unanswered