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In 1998, the Federal Banking Commission (FBC) issued a circular to all banks setting out guidelines relating to money laundering. The FBC now plans to issue more formal and stringent legislation in the form of an Ordinance on the subject. A draft of the Ordinance prepared by a committee was sent for comment to various business organizations of the banking trade at the beginning of July.

Amendments to the Hungarian Labour Code, effective from September 1 2002, appear to favour employees' interests over those of employers.

German companies listed in the US will find it tough to reconcile differences between their traditional practices and the requirements of American corporate governance reforms. By John Palenberg, Ward Greenberg and Gabriele Apfelbacher

Trade financiers have traditionally assumed they will be treated more favourably than other creditors by countries in financial difficulty. According to a study carried out by Torys, this is no-longer true. By Gilbert Samberg

Underwriters as well as issuers should consider the effects of America's corporate governance clean-up. James Bartos and David Beveridge discuss the implications for banks of recent legislation

Saudi Arabia's banking sector has traditionally been a closed market for the 10 banks licensed by the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (Sama). In 1999 the Kingdom opened its doors to Bahrain-based Gulf International Bank (GIB), which is 22.2% owned by Sama. In recent months, a number of banks headquartered in the GCC have applied for licences to operate in Saudi Arabia under the 1982 GCC Unified Economic Agreement, which has been implemented only on a piecemeal basis by the six GCC states over the past 20 years.

The new tax treatment of stock options and long-term incentives in Spain - to be in force from January 1 2003 - represents a commitment to better tax treatment and to a broader spread of benefits. The latest amendments to the Project Law are a partial modification of the Spanish Personal Income Tax (PIT) Law approved by the Spanish Lower House last October 3. They show the Spanish government's commitment to going beyond the situation created during the late 1990s which led to public questions about the practices of some managers of large Spanish companies. And the proposed reforms set out to provide a more reasonable, if still improvable, tax treatment for employees' stock purchase and stock option schemes.

As provided in Article 11 of the 2002 Finance Law, the Italian Ministry of the Economy and Finance has issued Decree No 217 (August 2 2002, coming into force on October 16 2002), introducing amendments to legislative decree No 153 of May 17 1999 on the subject of Italy's banking foundations.

Clients of Czech banks and other financial institutions in the Czech Republic will soon have a new forum for dispute resolution. After January 1 2003, disputes related to payments of up to €50,000 ($48,800) or electronic payment instruments will be decided by a new institution referred to as the Financial Arbitrator. The Arbitrator will be appointed by the lower house of the parliament for a fixed term of five years. The costs associated with the administration of the Arbitrator's office will be paid by the Czech National Bank.

The Thai government has made substantial progress in its liberalization of the power sector, which 10 years ago was still a government monopoly. This process has been guided by Nepo (an independent agency), Egat (a state enterprise under the prime minister's office) and PTT (a state enterprise under the Ministry of Industry). International project financings have been a feature of various key steps in the process.