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Libor [London interbank offered rate] is the primary benchmark, along with Euribor, for short-term interest rates around the world. Libor rates are calculated for five currencies and seven borrowing periods, ranging from overnight to one year, and are published each business day. Libor is based on submissions provided by a selection of large international panel banks. These submissions are intended to reflect the interest rate at which banks could lend one another unsecured funds. Many financial institutions, mortgage lenders, and credit card agencies set their own rates based on this. However, in 2017, the UK's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) announced that after 2021 it would no longer require the panel banks to submit the rates needed to calculate Libor. Libor will no longer be published after the end of 2021, and market participants are urged to transition to alternative reference rates (ARRs).

On July 24 2019, based on a request from the Financial Services Agency (FSA), the Trust Companies Association of Japan – a financial association whose members comprise of financial institutions engaged in trust businesses – proposed sample provisions to deal with the risk of money laundering etc. in trust agreements. The outline of these sample provisions is as follows:

Contractual relations between governments and the private sector are usually dictated by a strict set of rules and regulations, that are set in place as an assurance that the public interest is protected and that the public procedures are transparent and subject to the necessary advertising and competitive tendering requirements. In this context, the exceptional public health situation we are living in represents a true game changer, posing challenges to the existing legal frameworks and imposing upon governments the task to quickly adapt the regulatory system to provide answers to the ever evolving pandemic situation.

Since its inception, Panama has positioned itself as a world-leading logistic services provider. This has been in part due to its privileged geographical location and connectivity, as well as to a solid pro-market and dollarised economy. A robust banking system and a responsible territorial fiscal regime have qualified Panama as an investment-grade country since 2010 – and it has since been upgraded by Moody's, Fitch Ratings and Standard & Poor's.

Another set of measures came into force in Slovakia on May 12 to protect business operators from the fallout caused by Covid-19. These measures implement interim bankruptcy protections for business operators. These measures are temporary and as it stands, will expire on October 1 2020, with an option for the government to extend them through December 31 2020.

Switzerland is generally an attractive business location from a tax perspective, however not when it comes to interest withholding tax on notes and bonds. The Swiss 35% withholding tax on interest payment is imposed not only on notes and bonds issued by Swiss borrowers, but can also, in certain circumstances, apply to notes and bonds issued by foreign group companies guaranteed by Swiss group companies.

On March 24, the Vietnamese government issued Decree 35/2020/ND-CP (Decree 35), which took effect on May 15 and contains detailed guidelines on the implementation of the Law on Competition No. 23/2018/QH14 (2018 Law on Competition). This article gives a brief overview of some key features of merger filings addressed in Decree 35, as well as some practical observations.

In part one of this two-part series, Baker McKenzie lawyers outline how equity capital markets have come to the rescue of listed companies struggling with the ongoing liquidity crisis

Within just a few weeks of reports that the virus had spread to the continent, almost the whole of Europe was swept into lockdown. Borders were closed, trips cancelled and thousands of people began to work from home full-time, while others were laid off or placed on furlough: a blow to the real economy barely anyone had anticipated.

US firms are shifting their priorities towards social issues, but governance and environmental factors have not gone away