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In December last year, the European Parliament approved several amendments to the 13th Directive on Company Law concerning Takeover Bids. The amendments include allowing the board to increase the share capital of the company during the period of acceptance, as long as shareholder authorization was received at a general meeting held not earlier than 18 months before the acceptance period began, and extending the duties of the directors to consider employment when giving their opinion on a bid. It is unlikely that either the European Commission or EU governments generally will accept these amendments. At present, the European Council has until April 2001 to finish its second reading of the Takeover Directive. If the amendments are not approved, the process of conciliation will begin, by which the Commission will attempt to broker a compromise. If no compromise is reached, the European Commission will have to start the process again with a new draft.

Electronic banking is becoming more and more fashionable in Switzerland. A great number of established banks now also offer their services on the internet. And so far five banks have been licensed to do exclusively e-banking. The Federal Banking Commission takes a liberal approach to this new form of banking. This supervisory authority considers the availability of e-banking in existing banks as a mere extension of sales channels which is not subject to an additional permit and must not even be notified to the FBC.

The new Belgian Company Code, the law of January 23 2001, and the Royal Decree of January 30 2001 which sets out the details of various general provisions in the Company Code, all came into effect on February 6 2001.

"This should not be seen as a move to take on the best of Wall Street"

Alex Bafi Herbert Smith has swooped for Davis Polk & Wardwell corporate finance lawyer Alex Bafi. Bafi will join partners Jim Wickenden and Allen Hanen (who also worked for Davis Polk) in the Spring, as part of the London firm's growing US finance practice in Europe.

Paul Geradine, the FSA's director of listing The UK Financial Services Authority (FSA) has endured a stern test of its disclosure policies for biotechnology companies, after controversial UK group Huntingdon Life Sciences avoided closure by securing a last-minute investment package. In a press release on January 17 the FSA announced a new system designed to encourage more biotech companies to list in the UK.

Australia’s financial services reforms will give it one of the most unified and advanced financial services regimes in the world. Karen Den-Toll, director of financial services at Clayton Utz in Sydney, examines how the changes will affect issuers of financial products, and advisers across both the retail and wholesale customer markets

Parts of Asia are ripe for the kind of explosion in leveraged buy-outs seen in the US and Europe in the 1980s and 1990s. Richard Gray of Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy, Hong Kong, examines the legal and structural issues which this potential new market must address

New law on bank mergersHerguner Bilgen & Ozeke Istanbul

No tax exemption for short-term capital gains of banking institutionsBaker & McKenzie Frankfurt