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The OECD has established policies to support cooperation between jurisdictions in order to solve common problems. Among these is the exchange of financial information to reduce problems such as tax evasion and avoidance, and money laundering. This situation has been a challenge for central American jurisdictions when it comes to the approval of new regulations. As a result, several international treaties have been signed and local regulations have been enacted, and several other initiatives and bills are currently being discussed from a political and technical perspective.

CHARLES RUSSELL SPEECHLYS has opened an office in Hong Kong. The UK firm has established an association with a newly-formed Hong Kong firm set up by Jonathan Mok. The firm will focus on disputes and private wealth work. US firm MORGAN LEWIS & BOCKIUS is also reported to be in the last stages of completing its association with Hong Kong's Luk & Partners.

Michael Denenga Colin Graham In Italy, FIELDFISHER has opened a new office in Bologna. The team will be led by corporate partner Gianvincenzo Lucchini and litigator Andrea Gattamorta. The new operation is the firm's fifth Italian office joining Milan, Rome, Venice and Turin.

There's a new kid on the block in the Brexit relocation game: Amsterdam. Japan's largest bank, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, is rumoured to have chosen the Dutch capital as the new base for some of its EU investment business, as have RBS and a number of electronic trading operators.

Authorities are intent on changing the corporate law framework in line with modern practices

Foreign investors are now permitted to run companies themselves in a bid to attract investment and boost growth

On June 12 2017, a new regime for the exchange of information with foreign entities on tax matters was published in the Macau Official Gazette – Law 5/2017. Subsequently, on June 28 2017, the Executive Order 211-2017 was gazetted, approving the Common Reporting Standard and Due Diligence Procedures. These rules will now govern the exchange of information by Macau SAR in the carrying out of international agreements and conventions to which it is a party on double taxation and/or on prevention of tax evasion.

EU derivatives legislation may fall short of delivering a cohesive regime

On July 5 2017, the Swiss Federal Council (Bundesrat) amended the Swiss Federal Banking Ordinance to ease the Swiss regulatory framework for providers of innovative financial technologies (fintech).

A pressing issue in Japan is the ageing population combined with the diminishing birth rate. The Japanese government has been in the dark on how to handle these two elements. At first glance, these two concerns appear to present conflicting demands, namely (i) expanding health and medical services for the elderly, while at the same time; and (ii) minimising the use of public funds for those health and medical services, as a means of tackling the issue. Therefore, in order to deal with this problem, the Japanese government has drawn attention to the use of private resources, such as private funds, including Japanese real estate investment trusts (J-Reits), to provide sufficient monetary resources to the health and medical care industries through the acquisition of their assets.