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The Basel Committee's proposed adjustments are in stark contrast to the Commission's hurried additions

The UK implementation of the Transparency Directive opens the way for US-style stock-drop litigation. Investors are busy lining up candidates

Product transparency will place the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (Mifid) firmly back under scrutiny. The credit crunch has shown that bankers (and private investors) were buying products that they simply did not understand.

The Dutch Ministry of Finance announced on December 16 2008 that it will investigate the pros and cons of three potential drastic measures on interest taxation. One possibility is clearly preferred: tax exemption/no deductibility for interest income from and interest expenses to related parties, or the introduction of an obligatory group interest box (taxation/deduction against a low rate). This may be combined with a restriction on deduction of third party interest on loans related to the funding of acquisitions of subsidiaries and allowing participation exemption on group finance subsidiaries. The two (theoretical) alternatives that will be studied are: (i) no deductibility/tax exemption for all interest expenses and income or a system based on comprehensive business income taxation; and (ii) anti earning-stripping rules (similar to those in Germany and Italy). As said, those alternatives are not the preferred option. In particular, (ii) is not favoured at all. It will only be considered if other options turn out to be impossible. The Ministry of Finance has indicated that it will submit a bill to parliament in the first half of 2009.

Austrian credit institutions recently rediscovered the benefits of participation capital (partizipationskapital) when it comes to increasing their Core Tier I ratio and to enhancing their risk-bearing capacity. Inspired by the Austrian financial market stability scheme, intended to assist credit institutions and insurance undertakings in the looming financial crisis, institutions appear to have rediscovered this Austrian-specific instrument. Several Austrian banks have announced that they might draw on the state's assistance by issuing participation capital in order to enhance their financial status.

It is difficult to build a complete picture of the actual status of privatisation vouchers as evaluated against the remaining privatisation potential, considering the lack of necessary indicators from official sources. The sporadic indicators made available to us from other public sources show a disappointing and worrying picture. For instance, the figures solely concerning privatisation vouchers indicate that the government has issued a total of L74 million ($769,000) of privatisation vouchers. Out of that number, only 68.3% have been distributed to Albanian citizens. A small quantity, 17.6% of the total issued, have been used in the privatisation process. The remaining 85.4% remain in the hands of their holders or as a promise for distribution (the issued but not-distributed portion that amounts to 31.7%). On the other hand, the number of companies in which the state continues to own a full or partial stake is relatively small. For instance, we can name ARMO (15% state ownership), Albpetrol (100% state ownership), OSSH (24% state ownership), AMC (12.5% state ownership), Albtelekom, (24% state ownership), INSIG (61% state ownership) and a few other companies operating in the water and energy industries and the non-strategic sector.

Foreign investors will try to avoid unsophisticated civil courts imposing antique bankruptcy statutes

France's changes to its insolvency rules have done very little for secured creditors. That is a shame - it would have helped credit in a market that sorely needs it

Guidelines on the Law were overdue and very welcome. But the Coca-Cola takeover will be the event to watch in 2009

China will get a framework for real estate investment trusts this year: "The Reits proposal is being studied by various regulators," confirmed Yingli Huo of the People's Bank of China, at a press briefing in January.