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Albert Birkner has been with Cerha Hempel Spiegelfeld since 1995. His main areas of practice are mergers & acquisitions, in particular takeovers, and corporate restructurings. Albert Birkner has represented various national and international clients in takeover proceedings and general M&A matters before the Austrian Takeover Commission. He also advises on company law issues, in particular the transaction-related restructuring.

By Amit Kapur of J Sagar Associates

Amit Kapur is a partner in the Indian law firm J Sagar Associates and works out of the New Delhi office. Amit is a commerce graduate who was awarded his bachelor's degree in law from the University of Delhi in 1988.

By Stephen Angle, Donna Bobbish, and Adam Wenner of Vinson & Elkins LLP

The Brazilian real keeps on falling. But a new law will enable debtors to control payments inflated by devaluation. Walter Douglas Stuber of Amaro Stuber e Advogados explains

Japan has set the course for laws governing asset-backed finance. Taiwan and Korea aim to follow. By Tim Lester and Mohammed Asaria, of Lovells, and Udo van der Linden of ING

Marun Jazbik and Frederico Buosi of Allen & Overy report on how banks are using new structured deals to defy the jitters of Latin American markets and raise money

Saudi Arabia established the Saudi Communications Commission (SCC) last year to serve as the regulator for the Kingdom's telecommunications sector in advance of the long-awaited opening up of this sector to private investment. The first phase of this privatization scheme is a proposed floatation of 30% of the shares in the monopoly telecommunications operator Saudi Telecommunications Company (STC) by year-end: 20% to Saudi private investors and 10% to the two state-controlled pension funds. In July 2002, the SCC promulgated a set of rules to regulate and encourage private sector investment in the Kingdom's lucrative telecommunications sector. The rules are designed to encourage competition among various service providers and limit the ability of any one provider to exercise monopoly powers. Service providers with a dominant market position, for example, are required to obtain SCC approval for tariffs. They must also offer interconnecting service providers the same commercial terms and quality of technical access provided to their own divisions, subsidiaries or affiliates.

For over a year, Mexican commercial banks have been quoting among themselves and keeping track of a daily 91-day inter-bank offering rate known as Mexibor. It was not until July 29 2002 that the Mexican regulators authorized the banking industry to use the Mexibor for their commercial banking transactions with customers. This is a major change in the money markets in Mexico. Historically, it was the Mexican central bank, Banco de Mexico, that was the only entity legally-authorized to establish all such reference rates for the banking industry. This amendment only allows the commercial banks to set this 91-day reference rate, and leaves with the central bank the authority to establish all other reference rates available in the industry.

At present, Hong Kong has an effective legal framework for safeguarding personal privacy in relation to consumer credit data. The use of recorded information relating to an individual's credit transactions is regulated by the Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance and the Code of Practice in Consumer Credit Data. In light of the considerable increase in the default rate on loans and credit card spending, the financial industry proposes relaxation to certain provisions of the Code, particularly a greater sharing of positive credit data via a credit reference agency, as a measure to contribute towards alleviating the problem of growing consumer indebtedness and personal bankruptcies.