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Consob has recently approved new rules implementing Legislative Decree No. 58 of February 24 1998 under which authorized intermediaries will have the possibility to promote the sale and to place investment services, financial instruments and other financial products using distance communication techniques. The techniques must allow the realization of a contact with single investors, with the possibility of a dialogue or other forms of rapid interaction, or provided that documents or messages submitted to the investors have a contractual nature or are not limited to a description of the terms and characteristics of the offering subject, the offered investment services or the financial instruments. Authorized intermediaries, except for management companies contemplated by Legislative Decree No. 58, may, in relation to quotas of investment funds created or managed by them or the shares issued by investment companies with variable share capital, promote and place financial products using distance communication techniques. This is the case provided the investor has not expressly declared it does not agree with the use of these services, it being understood that authorized intermediaries will have to comply with the transparency rules set out by Consob in connection with carrying out financial intermediation services.

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:

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.

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

On June 4 1998, Commissioner Karel Van Miert signed an agreement between the EU and the US on the application of positive comity principles in the enforcement of their competition laws. The Positive Comity Agreement provides that where a party is adversely affected by anti-competitive behaviour in the other's territory, it may request that other party to take appropriate action. The Agreement also provides that the parties may agree that the party requesting enforcement will defer or suspend its enforcement proceedings over the anti-competitive practice while it is investigated by the other party.

English law distinguishes between fixed and floating charges. The essential distinction is that, unlike the holder of a fixed charge, on an insolvency the floating charge-holder ranks behind preferential creditors (consisting principally of the claims of the government for unpaid taxes and of employees for unpaid salary). For this and other reasons, the creditor of an insolvent company will usually try to establish a fixed charge over the relevant assets of the insolvent company.

The changeover to the Euro will have a substantial impact on European price sources. The Fibor (Frankfurt Interbank Offered Rate), for example, will vanish from January 1 1999. On that date, one to 12 month Fibor rates will be replaced by one to 12 month Euribor rates (Euro Interbank Offered Rate), and the Fibor overnight rate will be replaced by the Eonia rate (Euro Overnight Index Average). Euribor and Eonia rates will be calculated on a daily basis using quotes from a maximum of 64 European banks, 12 of which are domiciled in Germany.

Cyprus is not an offshore centre. An offshore centre has no double tax treaties and is not a signatory to international conventions. Moreover, it is used by wealthy individuals or international corporations for brass plate structures and for sheltering their wealth without tax liabilities.