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Finally, the UK regulator talks to industry

Kathleen Garrett Kathleen Garrett (right) has been appointed the new head of Irish firm Arthur Cox's London office. Garrett is best known for her role in establishing first-e, one of the first internet-only banks, and for restructuring IWP International. She will replace Mark Saunders, who will step down after over three years in the role.

Rod Cork of Allen & Overy gives an overview of legislation and procedures

Jonathan Walker and Peter Hayden of Mourant du Feu & Jeune outline insolvency and restructuring in Jersey and the Cayman Islands respectively

London firm Ashurst has hired 10 partners from McKee Nelson to found the firm’s US structured finance practice.

O’Melveny & Myers has appointed Steven Tonsfeldt as partner to its Silicon Valley M&A practice.

The Inter-minister Committee of Finances, Warranties and Insurances has issued the Norm with respect to stabilisation of the interest rate for medium and long-term export credit facilities, which entered into force on January 13 2009.

The Monetary Board of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) approved the issuance of a Manual of Regulations on Foreign Transactions, which supersedes the old regulatory framework under BSP Circular 1389 as amended. The Manual embodies the third phase of reforms in the regulation of foreign exchange (forex) transactions.

In an economic downturn, many companies may find themselves in a position of not being able to pay their debts when they are due. Being in this position is precarious, as there is a risk of the company being wound up, causing hardship to employees, creditors and shareholders. In addition to that, creditors will rush to enforce the debts owing to them, which is usually a disorderly state of affairs. This may eventually lead to the demise of the company. But there are mechanisms in place to address the inability to pay debts, depending on what the cause is.

On November 17 2008, a committee organised by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry to study new employee stock ownership plans released its report. The report mainly aims to maintain and enhance the global competitiveness of Japanese companies by promoting the introduction of new employee stock ownership plans. Actually, some companies have already started to introduce such new plans (Japanese ESOPs), which are named and somewhat modeled after employee stock ownership plans in the US. However, the number of companies with new plans is still small because there are some potential legal, accounting and tax issues associated with such new plans. Therefore, in order to make new plans more prevalent, the committee studied these issues, and released a report that suggests possible solutions.