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The sale of structured financial products, including equity bonds, index bonds and index-linked deposits, is increasing in Norway as well as the rest of Europe. According to unofficial numbers from the Financial Supervisory Authority of Norway (FSAN), about NKr50 billion ($7.5 billion) was invested in these instruments with 22 of the largest banks in Norway in the second quarter of 2006, representing an increase of NKr3.8 billion since the official survey made by the FSAN in the third quarter of 2005. Half of the investments in these structured products appear to be debt-financed and secured on the same instruments. Most of the funds invested originate from investors in the mass retail market. The real numbers might be even higher, because the FSAN survey does not include all foreign financial institutions represented in Norway.

Citigroup argues for international regulatory cooperation

A guide to recent Chinese M&A and private equity reform

As WaMu issues the first US covered bonds, Ben Maiden looks at the prospects for UK and US law firms

In its August newsletter the Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA), while commenting on the recent report Managing, Servicing and Marketing Hedge Funds in Europe prepared by the Alternative Investment Expert Group, referred to the fact that the MFSA now approaches the licensing of its 80th hedge fund in 24 months.

As of March 8 2006, the Czech Republic implemented the EU Prospectus Directive (2003/71/EC) by way of amendments to the Czech Capital Markets Act and the Czech Act on Notes. Accordingly, for the purposes of a public offer or admission to a regulated market, the prospectus approved by the competent authority of the issuer's home EU state, or the EU state where the security was first publicly offered or admitted to the regulated market (which may be different from the issuer's home state), is generally also valid in the Czech Republic (and any other EU member state). Numerous foreign issuers (banks and real estate investors) have already made use of this option to easily expand the territory of their securities offers, mostly to the central European region.

Section 7(3) of the Danish Financial Business Act provides as a general rule that credit and saving institutions, which are subject to a licence requirement, have an exclusive right to receive deposits and other repayable funds from the public. (The Act implements Article 3 of the Credit Institution Directive 2000/12/EC (now replaced by Article 5 of Directive 2006/48/EC) into Danish law.)

To understand how finance in the Middle East is changing, you need to be aware of three different factors: the groundbreaking deals, the transactional trends and the firms at the forefront of both. This issue of IFLR presents analysis of all three.

Microsoft's Greg McCurdy talks to Ben Maiden about plans to increase private antitrust lawsuits in Europe

Size of in-house teams and the percentage who expect to grow over the next year UK law firms look set to suffer a blow to the level of work they receive from in-house legal departments. More than half (58%) of the FTSE 350 in-house legal teams surveyed in a report by accountancy firm Grant Thornton plan on increasing the size of their departments over the next 12 months. As a result of this growth, in-house counsel intend to further develop their specialist knowledge, forcing legal firms to adapt to a changing marketplace.