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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

ANZ Banking Group's purchase of The National Bank of New Zealand was the largest trans-Tasman transaction yet, the largest New Zealand M&A deal and involved the largest Australian rights issue ever, at A$3.6 billion ($2.68 billion).

The Hague: Dutch utilities are turning to private finance A €400 million financing in The Hague has introduced the Dutch equivalent of private finance initiative deals to the country's utilities.

Germany: once more a source of true-sale deals in Europe Deutsche Bank completed Germany's inaugural true-sale commercial mortgage-backed securitization in December, the first deal to take advantage of legislative changes that came into force during the summer.

The first mortgage-backed bond issue under the new securitization law in Greece has put in place a template for future deals.

Two initial public offerings (IPOs) in December underlined both the continuing success of Chinese companies and the returning appetite among US investors for foreign equity. Both also saw welcome mandates for the China branches of several US and UK law firms.

Morgan Stanley has overturned the scepticism of rating agencies by securitizing commercial mortgages in Belgium, France and Ireland in a true-sale deal.

Competition in Russia's financial market is regulated by the Federal Law No 117-FZ, which came into effect on December 29 2001. It governs both Russian or foreign (operating in Russia) banking, insurance and leasing companies, non-state pension funds, professional participants of the securities market and other entities rendering financial services.

On December 2 2003, a working group nominated by HEX Integrated Markets, the Central Chamber of Commerce of Finland and the Confederation of Finnish Industry and Employers published a new Finnish Corporate Governance Recommendation. The Recommendation is a result of the working group's review of the previous corporate governance recommendation for Finnish listed companies issued in 1997.

Over recent years the Indonesian Tax Office has sought to increase state revenue from the collection of taxes. The government has set up a specialized Tax Court under Law No 14 Year 2003 to replace the existing Tax Dispute Settlement Body. The Court operates under the auspices of the Supreme Court, Ministry of Justice and Human Right (MoJ) and, to a certain extent, the Ministry of Finance (MoF) for examining an appeal over tax authority stipulation. Any decision rendered by the judge is considered as binding on both parties and the remedy would possibly be through a civil review. A tax bearer may use qualified and authorized tax attorneys to provide advice or representation. Further, decree of MoF No 450 Year 2003 has ruled that only Indonesian citizens licensed by the chairman of the Tax Court and empowered with specific power of attorney may act as tax attorneys. The Court also supervises the conduct of tax attorneys during hearings. Previously, tax disputes were settled by the Tax Dispute Settlement Body, which was created by Law No 17 Year 1997.