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Danaharta, Malaysia's state-owned asset management company, has finally completed its first asset-backed securitization (ABS). Allen & Overy won the mandate against inevitable competition from Clifford Chance and Freshfields, the two firms that have traditionally dominated the Asian securitization market.

Asia was awash with new equity in 2000, with huge initial public offerings from all corners of the region. The contrast with 2001 could not be starker. Nevertheless, last month's initial public offering (IPO) of the Petroleum Authority of Thailand (PTT) is not to be sniffed at. In fact, it is Asia's second largest this year and is a foretaste of Thailand's privatization programme.

Hengeler Mueller has used a new residential mortgage-backed securitization structure to close a synthetic securitization for the German financial institution Bayerische Hypo- und Vereinsbank. The German firm created the PROVIDE-Platform for the euro 1 billion ($875 million) synthetic securitization of residential mortgage receivables held by the state-owned Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW).

"It has become increasingly clear that public or private financing is a most important lifeline of support for terrorism"

The arrival of the euro has far reaching implications in areas such as monetary obligations, legacy currency securities and share capital. Geoffrey Yeowart of Lovells, London, answers some of the key questions for those getting ready to change over

Judge Denis Davis, judge of the Cape High Court and a member of the Katz Commission on tax reform, has commented on the impact of the far-reaching changes to the Income Tax Act in recent years, suggesting that a pause is needed before the authorities address the three major areas still needing reform. All the changes in the past few years have had profound effects on tax legislation in South Africa, the main two being the change from the source to the residence based system and the introduction of capital gains tax (CGT). The tax system, according to Judge Davis, is now enormously complex, whereas the Commission had advocated as simple a system as possible.

Colombian banking laws are the main regulations applicable to local derivatives and financial operations. In addition, Colombian foreign exchange (FX) regulations, issued principally by the central bank, regulate cross-border derivative operations. The central bank has traditionally assumed and applied local banking regulations and interpretations issued by the Colombian banking superintendency to FX transactions entered into by financial institutions.

Australia has ventured furtively into the world of compulsory financial philanthropy. A new provision, s1013D of Australia's Corporations Act 2001, requires fund managers, superannuation funds and life insurance companies to disclose "the extent, if any, to which labour standards, environmental, social or ethical considerations are taken into account in the selection, retention, or realization of the investment".

In July the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) issued a consultation paper intended to promote the protection of investors using exchange-traded funds (ETFs). This followed the pioneering launch in May of two Hong Kong ETFs relating to the Taiwan and Korea markets, and the anticipated future listing of other ETFs. The consultation paper's key recommendations include:

Whitney Pidot and former Shearman & Sterling partner, US ambassador to China Clark Randt In a move unprecedented among US firms, Shearman & Sterling has relocated its global managing partner to Asia. Whitney Pidot, who is also a member of the four-man executive committee, has stepped down from the top job to become managing partner for Asia in a move that has left even his New York colleagues surprised.