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The nations of central Europe are queuing up to join the EU’s rich club. But in their haste they risk tripping over themselves and catching the west’s economic cold. Ben Maiden and Thomas Williams report from Prague, Warsaw and Budapest on how laws firms are coping

"The interests of the commercial community will be best served if banks are able to take and operate a fixed charge on the basis of Siebe Gorman"

Singapore's United Overseas Bank (UOB) has wrapped up its takeover of Singaporean rival Overseas Union Bank (OUB) with a S$1.3 billion ($715 million) bond issue, the largest of its kind in Singapore. It also launched a US-dollar denominated $1.27 billion issue.

Simmons & Simmons has continued the expansion of its Asian services with the recruitment Masons' Hong Kong litigation team. The move comes just one month after the firm secured a joint venture in Tokyo with mid-size Japanese firm TMI Associates.

Thacher Proffitt expands finance team

Gianni Origoni Grippo & Partners is planning to strengthen both its banking and finance, and antitrust practices, as Linklaters & Alliance's Italian ally tries to become more widely known as a full service firm.

Europe's three largest exchanges are locked in a battle for control of the London International Financial Futures and Options Exchange (Liffe). Deutsche Börse, the London Stock Exchange and Euronext, which runs securities markets in Paris, Amsterdam and Brussels, have all expressed interest in buying Liffe, Europe's second largest derivatives exchange.

Sullivan & Cromwell last month announced the appointment of two partners in Frankfurt as it revealed plans to launch a German law practice for the first time.

A new Financial Markets Control Act (Finanzmarktaufsichtsgesetz) establishes a financial regulator with comprehensive competence, supervising all types of banks, insurance companies, and other financial services companies. The idea of having the concentration within one authority is primarily motivated by the international trend towards all-finance groups. It also looks to the potential synergies to be realized by consolidating separate supervisory authorities for the various branches of financial services in Austria. The new authority will have the status of an independent agency.

In order to meet the objectives of the Financial Services Action Plan, on March 27 2001 the European Commission introduced a proposal for a Directive on financial collateral arrangements. The Belgian presidency wishes the definitive text to be put on paper by the end of 2001.