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Arthur Andersen has abandoned plans to acquire Wilde Sapte, the city law firm it settled on after an 18-month search. Because of the defection of some of Wilde Sapte's most highly-regarded lawyers, Andersen felt the nature of the deal had substantially changed. Although they had originally voted in favour of the transaction, Wilde Sapte asset finance specialists David Smith and Mario Jacovides resigned shortly afterwards to join UK rival Allen & Overy. Also moving to Allen & Overy was top leasing partner Graham Smith. Several other Wilde Sapte stars were reported to be in talks with rival firms, including Philip Rocher, a litigator, and shipping finance head Robert Dibble.

The International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA) has published its Emu protocol, an innovative answer to a number of issues raised by European Economic Monetary Union. The document, published in May, is intended to assist the modification of over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives contracts based on ISDA's master agreement. With tens of thousands of these contracts outstanding all over the world, dealing logistically with Emu is a great challenge. Parties to the contracts are facing a number of problems, such as continuation of their contracts or the disappearance of current price sources.

New benchmarks in corporate loan securitization (collateralized loan obligations, or CLO) technology were set when the Structured Finance Group at the London branch of The Sumitomo Bank completed their Aurora CLO on April 8 1998. The £1.395 billion (US$ 2.3 billion) issue of floating rate notes by Aurora Funding was supported by a structure which:

Potential moratoria on payments of foreign currency to overseas persons need not necessarily worry exporters. They can structure to protect their interests. By Andrew O’Keeffe of Simmons & Simmons, London

The problems in the Indonesian economy have drawn attention to the question of how to enforce bills of exchange and commercial paper. This article provides a guide. By PDD Dermawan of Dermawan & Co, Jakarta

Clifford Chance has scored a major coup by poaching US lawyer Bruce Bean from the Moscow office of Coudert Brothers where he was managing partner. A New York and California qualified corporate lawyer, Bean joins Clifford Chance as a partner in the firm's Moscow office, which is staffed by 57 lawyers, including five partners. With experience of advising multinationals on inward investment, advising investment banks on securities issues by Russian corporates and international oil and gas companies on their activities in the country, he will be in charge of developing the office's corporate and US multinational practices.

Without recourse to international arbitration under the BOT Decision, foreign investors have stopped financing Turkish infrastructure projects. International treaties may offer a solution. By H Elizabeth Kroeger and Timothy Kautz of Jones, Day, Reavis & Pogue, Frankfurt

The example of a recent case involving PERLS shows the dangers for financial institutions of new investment products. Particular care should be taken to manage the legal and regulatory risks. By Jonathan Kelly of Simmons & Simmons, London

The draft Directive on settlement finality, incorporating amendments proposed by the European parliament, was approved by the Council of Ministers at the end of April 1998. It provides for legislation to deal with the position of cross-border payments when a bank or securities firm cannot meet its obligations. It aims to cut the systemic risk in payment and securities settlement systems and to minimize the disruption to a system caused by insolvency proceedings against a participant in the system.

Decree 3119 of 1997 regulated, for taxation purposes, the amounts allowed as deductions from net income when associated with articles imported massively as contraband.