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The SEC last month put in place two of the final pieces of the most radical regulatory overhaul of the US mutual funds industry in 60 years. On August 18 the Commission voted to ban the practice of directed brokerage and to increase disclosure about portfolio managers, leaving just three rules in its year-long plan to be passed.

The UK market regulator is investigating Citigroup's unusual trading behaviour in the government Eurobond market. In August Citigroup sold over €10 billion ($12 billion) of government bonds in a matter of minutes, causing the market to fall and allowing Citigroup to buy back about €4 billion of the same bonds at a lower price later the same day. The trades did not breach any specific securities laws but the regulator is to decide whether Citigroup acted "with regard to the consequences of its actions".

The first board of directors of the Capital Markets Authority (CMA), and its first chairman, the recent deputy governor of the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency, Jummaz Al Suhaimi, have been appointed by Royal Decree A/114, dated 1 July 2004.

Good faith is the most essential part of a contract among parties to an agreement. During the financial crisis in Indonesia, creditors have been facing difficulties when trying to recoup their investment, especially from debtors who lack good faith. The standard operating procedure of those debtors involves hiding their assets beyond the creditors' reach by transferring them out to obscure related parties. This is particularly relevant for unsecured creditors that do not have specific assets encumbered as collateral for the underlying loans. Unsecured creditors need to find the debtors' assets before they are able to attach such assets to satisfy their claims. It then comes naturally for bad faith debtors to try to transfer their assets out and leave the companies empty should the creditors obtain a judgment to have their monies back.

The Hong Kong Landlord and Tenancy (Consolidation) Amendment Ordinance 2003 (the Ordinance) was passed on June 30 2004 and came into effect on July 9 2004. It aims to remove security-of-tenure provisions for residential tenancies and to remove the minimum notice period requirement in relation to non-residential tenancies.

On July 6 2004, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television promulgated the Administrative Measures on Chinese-Foreign Cooperation Film Production. The regulations came into force on August 10 2004. The original regulations are now superseded. They had designated the China Cooperative Movie Production Corporation as the authority responsible for examining and approving applications for licences for Sino-foreign film production. Under the new regulations, the China Cooperative Movie Production Corporation will play no role in examining and approving applications for licences. Applications for licences must now be submitted directly to the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, which must determine the application within 20 days. If the application is rejected, the authority must provide reasons for its decision.

A judgment of the Higher Regional Court (Oberlandesgericht) Frankfurt/Main of May 25 2004 has caused unrest in the German market regarding securitization or sales of non-performing loans.

A global contingent of lawyers spanning more than 30 jurisdictions has advised food companies Associated British Foods (ABF) and Burns Philp in what is one of the largest ever transactions in the bakery ingredients industry.

In a first for the capital markets, Allen & Overy has helped structure an Islamic law-compliant bond for a European issuer.

Milbank Tweed Hadley & McCloy has successfully adapted two-year-old MTN documentation to create the Aria collateralized debt obligation (CDO), the first widely offered managed synthetic CDO to come to market as a programme.