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Worldwide, competition policy has established itself as a major instrument of economic policy and regulation. In September 1999, the Competition Act (the Act) came into operation in South Africa. However, since it came fully into effect, practice has revealed a need for review. As a result, the legislature recently enacted the Competition Second Amendment Act 2000 (the Amendment Act), which came into effect on February 1 2001.

The Prudential Insurance Company of America, the second biggest life insurer in the US, is set to raise $3.9 billion later this year in an initial public offering (IPO) when it demutualizes.

"A cocktail of Kafkaesque inefficiency"

The long-awaited amendments to the provisions of Canada's provincial securities legislation governing takeover and issuer bids (sometimes referred to as the Zimmerman amendments) took effect on March 31 2001. The amendments apply to each Canadian province that has securities legislation governing takeover and issuer bids, other than Québec, where the securities regulators are awaiting legislative approvals required to implement the amendments.

Robert Palache, the former managing partner of Clifford Chance's finance practice, has resigned from his position as co-head of securitization at Nomura International. It is unknown where he will move next.

Howard Davies Howard Davies, chairman of the UK's Financial Services Authority (FSA), warned in April that his fellow European regulators must take action if European banks are to benefit from the new Basle Capital Accord in 2004. Speaking at a conference on the accord in London, Davies urged Europe to make faster progress towards implementing the necessary legislation if it is to be able to start using the accord at the same time as the US and other non-Europeans.

A year ago Nordic law firms were reaping the benefits of booming capital markets work for high-tech companies. The collapse in equity values may have frozen the flow of deals but, as Thomas Williams reports, lawyers are finding they can help clients in bad times as well as good

News round-up Bech-Bruun Dragsted

The Hart-Scott-Rodino Act has been the cornerstone of merger control in the US for 25 years. But revisions made to the Act this year will change the threshold at which mergers need to be reported in an attempt to bring more consolidations in the high-tech sector under the control of the federal authorities. James Lowe of Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering, Washington, DC examines the changes to the notification regime

Before the enactment of Azerbaijan's new Civil Code, the paper-based Azerbaijani payment system was a major contributing factor to the slowness and complexity of inter-bank transfers. Since the establishment of a commercial banking system in the country, the demand for electronic banking services has grown constantly. This demand was first recognized in law when Azerbaijan's new Civil Code was adopted, which authorized electronic banking and electronic signatures for the first time. That initial legislative step has set the stage for electronic banking that had previously been limited to the introduction of automated teller machines. Fortunately, the National Bank of Azerbaijan (the NBA) has used this new legislative basis to bring innovative technologies to Azerbaijan's banking sector.