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After the latest amendment to the Securities and Exchange Law of Japan, more types of legal interest will come under the protection of the Securities Law. The Securities Law defines regulated securities as government bonds, local bonds, corporate bonds, stock certificates or other securities that represent certain interests as specified by a government ordinance. The legal interests represented by those securities will be deemed securities even if certificates are not issued for them. Also, certain legal interests that are not represented by certificates will be deemed securities and will be subject to various regulations under the Securities Law.

The new ministerial cabinet of Indonesia, headed by the president, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, has announced its objectives for its first 100 days in power.

A new regulation that is genuinely welcomed by the securities industry is a rare sight, so the favour heaped on the SEC's latest proposals comes as something of a surprise. After almost four years of regulatory crackdowns, onslaughts, attacks and clean-ups, now is the perfect time to for lawmakers to give something back to the industry.

Historically, independent directors of offshore hedge funds and managers were often appointed with the sole intention of fulfilling a limited but important function in relation to UK tax planning - to maintain the offshore tax status of the fund and its manager. The calibre and experience of the directors was often of limited concern. The annual cost usually was. However, recent hedge fund litigation, the issue of SEC guidelines on independent directors for US mutual funds, the recent UK Inland Revenue initiatives and corporate scandals in Houston and Parma have led to a new focus on the issue of corporate governance.

HKMC adapted an existing debt programme to achieve the first retail offering of mortgage-backed bonds in Hong Kong. Adrienne Showering and Lydia Lye explain how

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and White & Case helped structure a recent securitization for Rosbank to achieve a rating higher than that of the originator. The Eurobond backed by credit card receivables won a B-plus rating, a level higher than that assigned to the parent bank thanks to the negation of Russian currency risk and a solid security package to protect investors.

Japanese issuers must overhaul their reporting practices to avoid the attention of increasingly intolerant regulators intent on improving investor confidence. Andrew Crooke reports

In an attempt to increase certainty for investors in emerging market debt, trade bodies have endorsed a standard form of collective action clauses (CACs) governed by English law.

Almost 2,500 lawyers from around the world converged on Auckland last month at the International Bar Association's annual conference to discuss various issues facing the profession. One of the themes to emerge from the conference was the level of concern and attention that in-house and private practice lawyers are paying to governance standards and market reputations - both within corporates and at law firms. The profession is having to face up to potentially wide-ranging implications for its own behaviour and liabilities

A withholding tax exemption for UK and US financial institutions that provide debt finance to Australian companies is a welcome advantage in a market where more and more issuers are raising funds offshore. Teresa Dyson and Anna-Maria Stephens explain