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President Putin has a track record of being friendly towards business. But with the country's leading businessman in jail, are foreign investors underestimating Russian risk? By Simon Crompton

In traditional models, it is the job of central banks to moderate credit cycles. By that measure, there is little to say that is favourable about the work of the US Federal Reserve System between April 1998 and October 2002. For nearly six years before 1998, conditions slowly improved, going from unnerving through cool to Goldilocks on the chart. Almost everyone claims credit for that virtuous cycle. The horrible period from 1998 to 2002, however, remains unclaimed.

During financial downturns, banks and financial institutions are usually faced with the problem of non-performing loans. One way to deal with them is to create asset management companies (AMCs). The two pieces of legislation in the Turkish legal system regulating AMCs are Law No 4743 on the Restructuring of Debts in the Financial Sector and Amending Certain Laws and the Regulation on the Establishment and Operation of Asset Management Companies. Law No 4743, which was enacted as a result of the two financial crises in November 2000 and February 2001, introduced the concept of AMCs to the Turkish legal system.

Foreigners are showing interest in buying non-tradeable shares in domestically listed companies, but political ambivalence and a vague legal and regulatory framework are holding things up. By Doug Markel

Financial services companies in Hong Kong can now use a new trade pact with China to gain a lead over rivals elsewhere. By Andreas Lauffs, Eugene Lim and David Lee

Ontario's new statute of limitations is an important modernization, but it leaves the door open to disputes and litigation. Jay Lefton of Aird & Berlis LLP explains

In the first of a series of articles examining differences between UK and US documentation, Tom Reid and William Underhill look at IPO underwriting agreements

German and foreign hedge funds can target German investors for the first time. But the complexity of the corresponding tax regime stands in the way of rapid growth in the industry. By Edgar Wallach

The National Association of Securities Dealers has taken the latest step aimed at stamping out abusive allocations of shares. Charles Gittleman and Russell Sacks explain

The largest international securities issue under Islamic law is also the first deal of its type in a civil law jurisdiction. By Kenneth Aboud and Hooman Sabeti