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Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has won the first of what it hopes will be a series of mandates for issues from Hong Kong Mortgage Corporation's innovative mortgage-backed securities (MBS) programme.

With Euronext at the forefront of integration in European financial services, Thomas Williams talks to the exchange’s top lawyer about self-regulation and the ten best law firms in Europe

Amendments have been made to the Helsinki Exchanges regulations to allow block trading. These amendments took effect on February 25 2002. The reasons for the change include the desire to minimize the possibility of the manipulation of stock trading prices and to clarify the existing trading rules on the matter. It is hoped that the clarity these changes bring will encourage more block trading activity.

The Agreement on the Swiss banks' code of conduct with regard to the exercise of due diligence (CDB) is a multilateral agreement. Under its framework, banks located in Switzerland have agreed with the Swiss Bankers Association to verify the identity of their contracting partners and, should there be any doubt, obtain from them a declaration of beneficial ownership with respect to the deposited assets. They have also agreed to refrain from providing any active assistance in the flight of capital or in tax evasion.

On February 21 2002 ISVAP (the Italian supervisory authority on private insurance) issued Circular No 474 D, which sets out new provisions on unit-linked life insurance policies. Unit-linked policies are those policies the performances of which are connected to shares of funds that may be either internal to the insurance company or external.

With the new Basle capital accord due by the end of the year, the committee has turned its attention to securitization and issued a working paper discussing risk sensitive and ratings-based approaches. Mark Nicolaides and Emma Dmitriev of Mayer Brown Rowe and Maw, London, review the implications

Whether it is by means of a corporate acquisition, the formation of a joint venture or the creation of a Mexican subsidiary or branch, foreign enterprises doing business in Mexico always face the need to send foreign nationals to oversee their investments or operations in Mexico. The economic slowdown has now brought the need for some of these entities to lay off or reduce the workforce of their business ventures in Mexico. This has raised a very significant issue as to whether or not the foreign expatriates are entitled to severance payments under the labour laws of Mexico. Although the Mexican labour laws are federal in nature, the labour courts are local and do not form part of the judiciary, but rather of the state or local executive branch. Their decisions are not public or published and, unless this issue is taken by means of constitutional review to the federal circuit courts, there is no possibility of looking for a court precedent. In fact, even if a circuit court takes a particular view on the topic, such a precedent is, in general terms, not binding on any other circuit courts within the country. We have not found any circuit court precedent that may give some guidelines on the issue at stake. As surprising as it may seem, foreign expatriates rendering services in Mexico on account of foreign companies have been opting to sue in the Mexican labour courts against: (i) the Mexican entity; and (ii) the foreign parent and/or sister entity, claiming severance payments under the labour laws of Mexico.

A new law was introduced on June 21 2001 to regulate international arbitration proceedings in Turkey. The new International Arbitration Law No 4686 is a supplement to the existing domestic arbitration regulation, which is set out in the Code of Civil Procedure (CCP). The Arbitration Law was enacted in parallel with the general trend towards liberalization of international arbitration legislation globally.

On October 11 2001, the House of Lords handed down judgment on eight appeals relating to claims by banks for possession of marital homes under mortgage. In each case the security was granted by a wife to secure her husband's debts. The wives were claiming that the security was unenforceable because they had signed under the undue influence of their husbands.

The Superintendency of Securities has issued resolution 0933 dated December 21 2001, which provides the new applicable framework for the public offering of securities in Colombia issued by multilateral credit entities. Before the enactment of this resolution, offerings undertaken by multilateral credit entities had the same applicable regime as ordinary foreign entities (ie foreign corporations and financial institutions). In accordance with the new regulation, this type of offering has much simpler requirements. An automatic approval process has been established, provided that the multilateral credit entity complies with the general requirements established below.