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The Russian state is loosening its grip on land transactions. Anna McDonald of Salans outlines the real estate title rules

Malaysia has set a clear path for how it wishes to build and improve its financial industry and its capital markets. The country's 300-page Capital Markets Masterplan lays out improvements and recommendations some of which have been achieved already, others of which require further attention. In key areas such as Islamic finance, the government has entered the market as an issuer to aid progress. Meanwhile, in mergers and acquisitions, as in many other areas of financial and corporate activity, Malaysian authorities are lowering barriers to foreign investors. The articles on the following pages examine some of these issues in detail.

Regulators in Malaysia are sticking to their plans to lead innovation in Islamic capital markets. So far these seem to be working. Nik Ramlah Nik Mahmood of the Securities Commission spoke to Rob Mannix about progress

Charles Temkin of Shaw Pittman explains why complex and sometimes petty regulations can trip the unsuspecting, and can even lead to the loss of Reit status

Amendments to the Reits Act should spark activity in a market that has been slow to take off, say Yon Kyun Oh and Kwon Lee of Kim & Chang

France has introduced a tax regime that will allow the country's new non-listed real estate collective investment schemes to flourish. By Frédéric Nouel of Gide Loyrette Nouel

International companies are needlessly applying for Austrian merger clearance, just to be on the safe side. Dr Ferdinand Graf of Graf, Maxl & Pitkowitz explains

Islamic finance has greater potential growth than any other single area of finance. Although its precise size is hard to assess, most estimates say the assets of those who might invest in Islamic financial products amount to more than $250 billion.

James Hume, executive vice-president of the Dubai International Financial Centre looks at the history and potential of the Islamic financial sector

Albert Birkner of Cerha Hempel Spiegelfeld Hlawati explains the workings of the Austrian Takeover Act