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Exactly one year after the first-ever demutualization and listing of a Japanese life insurance company, Taiyo Mutual Life Insurance has become the first player in the industry to follow suit.

For the first time in Australia, the bidders in two recent takeover bids included conditions to help them extract valuable and confidential information from the target. Rodd Levy of Freehills looks at how this could influence future bidding tactics, as well as the final outcome

There have been some important changes to the regulatory framework governing the New Zealand Stock Exchange (NZSE) in the last six months. The main changes are a new continuous disclosure regime, principally governing continuing disclosure by listed companies to the market of material information about themselves, and demutualization of the NZSE, coupled with legislative changes delineating the regulatory roles of the NZSE and the statutory regulator, the Securities Commission.

Although global insurance firms are pushing into the Korean market - the world's seventh largest in terms of insurance premiums - the threat posed by foreign rivals is a minor issue next to the challenges created by the proposed Insurance Business Law (IBL). The Bill focuses on overhauling the existing regulations in the insurance sector to meet global standards in terms of asset management, market competition, supervisory systems and consumer protection.

As part of the Japanese government's securities market reform, amendments to the Cabinet Order and the Cabinet Office Ordinances relating to the Securities and Exchange Law took effect on April 1 2003. There are two key points to the amendments. First, the amendments require disclosures to the Japanese public securities market to be more informative and credible. Secondly, the amendments modify the requirements for private placements in order to encourage the development of Japanese private securities markets.

The Hong Kong Securities and Futures Ordinance (SFO) came into force on April 1 2003 and is aimed at maintaining and promoting fairness and efficiency in the securities and futures industry. The new SFO was enacted on March 13 2002 and replaced 10 Ordinances. About 40 codes and guidelines were issued under the Ordinance. Combating market misconduct and protecting investors is one of the key concerns of the SFO and a number of reforms have been introduced:

On March 31 the Indian Ministry of Commerce and Industry announced the 2003 to 2004 export-import (Exim) policy, which supplements the five-year plan for 2002 to 2007.

The Measures for the Administration of Foreign-Invested Distribution Enterprises for Books, Newspapers and Periodicals was promulgated by the State Press and Publication Administration and the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation (now Ministry of Commerce) on March 17 2003. The Measures will take effect on May 1 2003 while those regulations regarding foreign-invested wholesale enterprises contained therein will come into effect on December 1 2004.

On January 24 2003, the Swiss Bankers Association (SBA) issued directives on the independence of financial research. The Federal Banking Commission (FBC) ratified these on January 29 2003 as minimal standards of self-regulation (code of conduct).

The Delaware Supreme Court handed down a ruling last week that will make it harder for bidders to lock companies into binding merger agreements.