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Ratings agencies Fitch and Standard & Poor's have both issued reports criticizing credit derivatives.

After a six-year legislative process, the Austrian Parliament has enacted the Substitution of Equity Act (Eigenkapitalersatz-Gesetz (EKEG)), which will come into force on January 1 2004. The Act deals with the concept of a shareholder loan that replaces equity and is treated as equity (Eigenkapitalersatz) when a company is in financial crisis - a peculiarity of German and Austrian corporate law. In the absence of explicit statutory provisions, the Austrian Supreme Court (Oberster Gerichtshof (OGH)) has so far applied a modified approach of German law principles to shareholder loans substituting equity (eigenkapitalersetzende Gesellschafterdarlehen).

New legislation should help promote the development of asset-backed financings in Russia. By Vladimir Dragunov

New securities laws aim to bring international standards of transparency to Russia's capital markets. Andrey Yakushin explains

Local law means bankers cannot rely on security trustees in syndicated deals. John Balsdon and Liza Ivanova review the alternatives

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

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

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

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