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Avoiding censure from the European Commission, France has dropped its restrictive practices on Eurofranc management and listings. By Gilles Endréo of Linklaters & Paines, Paris

The Financial Transactions Reporting Act 1996 seeks to combat money-laundering through financial institutions in New Zealand. The Act imposes various obligations on 'financial institutions' (defined widely), including the obligation to report suspicious transactions to the police.

Two recent Court of Appeal decisions in Hong Kong each touched on an issue of concern to banks in their dealings with customers and third parties: first, whether a mortgagee is bound by a Mareva injunction, and secondly whether a trust can be impressed on deposits secured by contract.

In April 1997, the Response of the Securities and Futures Commission to the Public Consultation on the Review of the Leveraged Foreign Exchange Trading Regulatory System (the Response) to the Consultation Paper on the Review of the Leveraged Foreign Exchange Trading Regulatory System (the Consultation Paper) was released by the Securities and Futures Commission (the SFC).

Former special counsel at the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Walter Van Dorn, is to join the London office of US firm Rogers & Wells. Based for a transition period in the firm's Washington DC office, he expects to be permanently resident in the UK by around October. Van Dorn expects to work on ADR offerings and listing of non-US companies on US exchanges. "London is really the hub for trans-national and international work. With the fall of the communist bloc that demand increased," he says. "Rogers & Wells was looking for US lawyers as are a lot of US firms. European companies need this sort of advice, and it is convenient to have the skills on offer in London so clients can cut right to the chase."

The Hungarian Civil Code rules on mortgages and pledges were recently amended by Act XXVI of 1996. The Act was adopted by parliament on April 9 1996 and some provisions entered into effect on May 1 1996, but the remaining provisions take effect on May 1 1997. This briefing outlines the main changes.

Under the merger control rules of the Austrian Cartel Act (ACA) a pre-closing filing is required if the combined turnover of all participating undertakings amounts to at least Sch3.5 billion (US$290 million), provided that the turnover of at least two undertakings involved in the merger is at least Sch5 million. Because Section 42a para 1 ACA does not qualify the term 'turnover' (Umsatz)in geographic terms, and because the preparatory documents of the Cartel Law Amendment Act confirm the irrelevance of the distinction between domestic and foreign turnover, the Austrian Cartel Court initially applied the threshold to worldwide turnover. From the outset the turnover thresholds for the pre-closing filing requirement under Section 42a para 1 of the ACA have been considered too low. Because the Austrian Cartel Court only applied fairly weak structural link and effects tests to limit the jurisdiction of the court with respect to 'foreign' mergers and business combinations, transactions with a negligible Austrian content were subject to the pre-closing filing requirement and the one-month waiting period provided for under Section 42b ACA.

The last 12 months have seen big changes in the Swedish legal market. Mid-sized firms in particular are taking strategic decisions to merge or make international links. Samantha Wigham reports

• UK firm Clifford Chance has appointed 22 partners. Fifteen are in the London office. They are: in finance, David Bickerton, David Eatough, Hilary Evenett, Rachel Kelly, Geeta Khehar, Robert Lee, Gavin Teague and Russell Wells; in property, Andrew Forryan; in corporate, Mark Poulton and David Pudge; in contentious, Rob Lambert and Rae Lindsay; in tax, Michael Wistow, and in tax, pensions and employment, Bruce Hedley. The Hong Kong office has gained three partners: Paul Kruger and Robert Trefney (finance) and Philip Rapp (China). Simon Clinton and Thierry Schoen become corporate partners in Singapore and Paris respectively. Juan Jose Lavilla becomes an administrative law partner in Madrid. Mark Huddlestone has been made finance partner in Amsterdam.

Howard M Liebman of Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, Brussels, believes that the Renault affair is evidence that European monetary union is premature