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The statistics for 2002 published by the Capital Markets Board revealed a noteworthy growth in the number of foreign funds that entered the market. In fact, 19 different foreign funds' securities were issued last year, thus boosting the total number of foreign mutual funds with interests being traded in Turkey to 40 since 1997.

In February 2003, a panel of experts was informed about various recommendations to improve Swiss financial market supervision. As an initial measure, the panel has recommended appointing the Swiss Federal Banking Commission and the Federal Office of Private Insurance as the new financial market supervisory authority. For this purpose the two federal bodies should be merged organizationally within this new authority. By summer 2003, the panel plans to submit a draft of a federal law on financial market supervision which will come into force by the end of 2003 at the earliest.

On January 8 2003 the Parliament of the Republic of Kazakhstan passed the Law On Investments (No 375-II). The new law represents an effort to consolidate separate past legislation governing foreign and direct investment and to level the playing field for domestic and foreign investors.

The potential bankruptcy of a Russian company has long troubled those investing in the country, as loopholes in the previous bankruptcy laws have led to the use of bankruptcy as a takeover device and other abuses. On December 3 2002, a new Law On Bankruptcy (Insolvency) took effect. In general, the new law is debtor-friendly and was drafted to stop abuses. However, it does not address all the existing problems and its effectiveness remains untested. Some of the noteworthy provisions of the new law are outlined below.

The Bank of Italy has made clear to the market its views on the treatment of repayment clauses in securitization transactions.

Pursuant to the Competition Act, one or more undertakings acquiring direct or indirect control over another undertaking or other undertakings qualifies as a concentration and, if certain thresholds are met, is subject to the Competition Office's approval. However, the acquisition of temporary control does not qualify as a concentration and, thus, the Competition Office's approval is not required. This special rule was applied and further interpreted in a recent decision when FOTEX, a holding company acquired interest in FTC, a Hungarian football club.

The recent corporate scandals in the US have, among other things, focussed attention on the issue of the independence of directors generally. In Canada, in the recent Second Cup/Cara decision rendered by the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC), the OSC briefly highlighted the issue of independence with respect to special committee members and advisers.

Certain amendments to Finland's Act on Credit Institutions (the ACI) and the Act on Investment Firms (the AIF) became effective on February 15 2003. The amendments mainly relate to improving banking and payment services as well as their availability. Although most amendments are mainly structural, they also include regulation on for example the use of agents in providing banking services, the right to receive repayable funds from customers and the right to basic banking services.

The Ritz-Carlton, Hong Kong, February 27

Recent rule-making by US regulators is placing tougher reporting restrictions on non-US issuers with shares traded in the US. Douglas Tanner of Milbank Tweed Hadley & McCloy explains what corporates should know about these requirements and how to avoid unnecessary burdens