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Over the past decade, the real estate market in Colombia has grown tremendously and new horizons have opened for investors, including in the urban renovation and real estate project segments, renewable energy, and public private partnerships (PPPs) generally.

In just a matter of minutes, anyone can use the internet to download or stream copyrighted content for free. Unfortunately, most of that content is posted and distributed without the consent of the author – the exclusive holder of the rights to the work. In other words, it is illegal. The practice of accessing copyright-protected work in just a few minutes, without paying for it, is very widespread.

A law providing for the regulation and supervision of payment systems has been proposed and is now pending before the Philippine senate for transmission to the president for final approval (the House of Representatives adopted the Senate version of the bill as an amendment to the House version and this was transmitted to the Senate on October 3 2018). If the proposed law is passed in its existing form, it will grant the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) supervisory and regulatory authority over payment systems in the Philippines. The proposed law mandates the registration of payment system operators and limits those allowed to operate payment systems to persons and entities that obtain advance approval from the BSP.

As is well known, anti-money laundering (AML) and know-your-customer rules (KYC) are obligations of service providers like banks and other financial institutions. Their aim is to facilitate investigations into the real identity of customers and the purpose and source of their transactions, so that the services provided to customers will not be used for money laundering, financing of terrorism, tax evasion, or other illegal activities. As transactions involving cryptocurrencies are by nature global yet anonymous, there is thus much room for misuse, so we cannot emphasise enough the importance of AML/KYC in the crypto space.

Offshore activities in Macau are ruled by Decree-Law 58/99/M (the offshore regime). Under this Law, such activities are categorised into financial and non-financial offshore operations, under the supervision of the Monetary Authority of Macau (AMCM) and the Macau Trade and Investment Promotion Institute (IPIM), respectively.

On November 15 2018, the Chief Executive of the Macau Special Administrative Region announced the 2019 policy address at the Legislative Council with a headline of 'Seize opportunities for balanced development'. Some highlights of the tax relief measures mentioned are as follows:

According to the implementation plan released in November 2018, terms of reference (TORs) have been issued for six projects, and 'contract awarded' notices are tentatively scheduled for February 2019.

On June 15 2018, the Swiss Parliament adopted the Swiss Financial Services Act (FinSA). In the meanwhile, the Swiss Federal Council opened a consultation process regarding the Financial Services Ordinance (FinSO), implementing the provisions of the FinSA, which will last until February 6 2019. Together with the new Swiss Financial Institutions Act, the FinSA and the related implementing ordinances are expected to enter into force on January 1 2020. These laws are part of an entirely new regulatory framework governing the Swiss financial markets.

Among the variety of investment areas in Vietnam, the education sector is becoming one of the most appealing. Consumer expenditure on education continues to rise in Vietnam. According to the British Council, consumers spent $8.6 billion on education in 2015, which is forecast to increase to $12.8 billion by 2021. According to statistics provided by the Ministry of Planning and Investment, for the first half of 2017, Vietnam attracted over $701.69 million in foreign direct investment via 336 projects in this sector.

Saudi Arabia’s new law introduces a framework for the winding down of distressed businesses in the country for the first time