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As Russia's economic and financial crisis continues, there have been a number of important legislative and policy developments, including the following:

On March 30 1998 new legislation on the protection of personal data came into force. The new statute is intended to implement the EC Data Protection Directive of October 24 1995. The Directive balances the interests of individuals with the interest of companies that use personal data in their business. The Directive is not designed to ban the collection of data but rather to control its uses.

On October 21 1998, the ministry of finance adopted a new regulation on the valuation of receivables, investments and contingency liabilities as well as of the contractual guarantees of credit institutions. Until then, these issues had been regulated through instructions by the banking supervisory authority which ceased to exist in 1997 and was replaced by the Money and Capital Market Supervisory Authority. These instructions have now been overruled by the new regulation entering into force on November 5 1998.

The consolidation of the South African legal market continues with the merger of three firms Bowman Gilfillan Hayman Godfrey, John & Kernic and Findlay & Tait. The 60 partner new firm Bowman Gilfillan will be one of the largest in the jurisdiction. Senior partner Peter James of John & Kernic says: "Traditionally clients have used us for their intellectual property work and other firms for other aspects of business law. Now we'll be able to offer a fuller service. The major international clients also look more closely at larger firms."

Since introducing its specialist debt listing facility, the Cayman Islands has dealt with over 120 applications. Anne Nealon of the Cayman Island Stock Exchange explains the listing rules for structured bonds

IFLR asked practitioners in Hong Kong, Singapore and Australia how financial authorities are reacting to the Millennium bug and what steps banks should take to achieve compliance

Enron has recently failed in both Brazil and Argentina to find bank finance. A panel of lawyers, banks and sponsors discuss how to reach financial close on regional projects

On October 28, the Commission adopted a communication entitled "Financial Services: Building a Framework for Action". The aim of the communication is to give the EU financial markets the possibility to support competition and resist financial instability. The strategy put forward to achieve this aim is to establish a capital market that meets the needs of issuers and investors, abolishing the barriers to cross-border provision of financial services such as mortgage loans, insurance and retirement services, with the view to offering the consumer a larger choice, and to guarantee higher levels of protection. The EU's financial services sector already accounts for some 6% of the EU's GNP, and it offers essential financial products to both industry, notably investment capital, and individual consumers, such as mortgages, pensions and insurance. It also accounts for 2.45% of EU employment and there is considerable potential for job creation in the sector. The communication highlights four areas of the sector in which action is required:

In October 1990, the defendant telephoned the plaintiff, convincing him to invest in futures options. After the plaintiff had signed an investment contract, the defendant began to trade in put and call options for the plaintiff, charging $300 in commission for each transaction. This led to remarkably high commissions. As the plaintiff's two accounts began to depreciate steadily, he ordered the defendant to close them. Subsequently, he sued the defendant claiming all his money back.

Recent developments in Spanish company law will favour access by Spanish companies to new financial mechanisms. One of these developments relates to the possibility for Spanish companies — previously not recognized by law — to issue redeemable shares (acciones rescatables), as an instrument through which the company may obtain additional funds for a limited time. This type of share represents an intermediate between fixed-income and variable-income securities. The main features of this new regime are as follows: