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"Morgan Stanley is not going to take a big position if the market could move against it, and the market surely would"

The International Primary Markets Association (IPMA) has warned that the EU's plans for greater transparency in its capital markets will encourage companies to list elsewhere. In a letter to the European Commission the association, which represents the views of over 60 international banks operating in the European capital markets, says that "third-country issuers will be driven from EU markets" if the obligations of the new directive are disproportionately burdensome.

By Rob Mannix

By Michael Evans and Thomas Williams

With many telecoms companies in trouble, much of the high-yield debt they favoured during the 1990s needs restructuring. By Mark Cannon of Latham & Watkins, London

With disclosure determining investor confidence, or the lack of it, Canada has decided now is a good time to untangle its confusion of corporate governance rules. Tina Woodside and Kathleen Ritchie of Gowling Lafleur Henderson's Toronto office assess the proposals

The Mexican Securities Law (Ley del Mercado de Valores) allows government entities to issue debt-denominated securities known as Certificados Bursátiles. Although the Mexican federal government has in the past issued debt securities, this mechanism has certainly not been a financing option for state governments or for municipalities. So far there has only been two issuances of Certificados Bursátiles of this kind registered with the Mexican Stock Exchange. One was made by the state government of Morelos for about $21 million, and the second by the city of Aguascalientes for about $9 million. Recently, Fitch Ratings has given the city of San Pedro Garza García an AAA rating for the issuance of Certificados Bursátiles up to $20 million. It is expected that these securities will be priced and placed this summer and, if successful, will become the third issuance of these kind of debt instruments in the Mexican securities market.

Recent amendments to the Audit Special Exceptions Law, a law relating to the Commercial Code, provide an alternative to Japan's existing corporate governance structure. The new governance structure, scheduled to take effect in April 2003, is not mandatory and only applies to companies categorized as "larger companies" which satisfy certain criteria.

A Bill that introduces new standards for the corporate governance of companies with shares listed on the Athens Stock Exchange was recently approved by the Greek parliament and following Government Gazette registration the new law has now come into force (as law No 3016/2002). These new corporate governance rules are a follow-up to a Code of Conduct for listed companies issued by a decision of the Capital Market Commission in late 2000.

The regulations applicable to finance companies in the Netherlands have changed again as of July 1 2002. The existing exemption regulation is revoked with effect from that date. This exemption was itself recently amended and stated that Dutch finance companies could be exempt from being qualified as a credit institution (kredietinstelling) within the meaning of the Act on the Supervision of Credit Institutions 1992, as a consequence of which the finance company would not fall under the scope of this Act. In addition to the new regulation, a policy guideline of the Dutch Central Bank (DCB) in respect of the terms used in the regulation has become effective.