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Economic turbulence does not affect sanitation as much as it does other infrastructure industries. Demand is inflexible, revenue stream is predictable and services are monopolistic by nature, which is not the case with other industries – transportation, for example, is more permeable to economic downturns.

In 2016, the Philippine banking system was at the centre of an unprecedented cyberheist where $81 million supposedly stolen from the Bangladesh Bank, the central bank of the country, ended up in the Philippine financial system and was eventually lost in the blossoming casino industry. The natural question would be whether the people who allowed the entry and movement of the funds had any liability under the Anti-Money Laundering Act.

Following up on an article published last year in IFLR by Consortium Legal – Honduras regarding anti-money laundering (AML) legislation, on June 6 2017 the National Banking and Insurance Commission (CNBS) issued the Regulation on the Registration of Non-Financial Professions and Activities (Regulation). Beginning June 15 2017, attorneys, accountants, and various non-financial businesses, including but not limited to car dealerships, casinos, jewellery retail shops, real estate companies, and companies that grant loans without performing financial intermediation, will have to register with the AML registry for non-financial professions and activities of the CNBS.

On May 23 2017, Law 3/17, which amends the law on the prevention of money laundering activities – Law 2/2006 (AML Law) – came into force. (Further details of the objectives and particulars of the amendments can be found in the March 2017 Macau briefing here: www.iflr.com/Article/3664320/Macau-AML-framework-developments.html).

Dennis M Kelleher, president and CEO, Better Markets and Peter J Wallison, senior fellow, American Enterprise Institute share their views on how the landmark legislation has impacted the financial services sector

A new competition law is scheduled to be enacted in 2018 and take effect in 2019. Currently, legislators are collecting public opinions on the second draft of this legislation, one of the hot topics currently being discussed by legal practitioners. One of the most important points to consider is that unlike the current regulations which do not clearly govern foreign entities, the draft law expressly provides that foreign entities and anti-competitive activities, including economic concentrations (ECs) which are performed outside of Vietnam but would cause a restriction of competition in Vietnam market, shall be subject to this legislation. Therefore, M&A deals between offshore entities in relation to indirect equity interests in a Vietnam-based entity will come under the oversight of the Vietnamese competition authorities.

The ambitious long-term infrastructure development plans of Middle Eastern governments and related funding requirements, together with sustained low oil prices and the resulting volatility in regional liquidity, may finally have produced the right climate for Islamic securitisation to grow

The EU legislation is keeping market participants from New York to New Delhi up at night

On January 1 2017, the Swiss domestic legislation on the Automatic Exchange of Information (AEOI) entered into force and the Swiss Federal Tax Administration (SFTA) published guidelines specifying the crucial aspects of the legislation for practical use. Under the AEOI, Swiss financial institutions (FI) will collect and exchange relevant financial information on 'reported persons' with Switzerland's partner states. By the same token, Switzerland will receive data collected on Swiss resident reported persons from Switzerland's partner states. The exchanged information will be used for domestic taxation purposes in the state of residence of the reported persons.

Dieter Grünblatt, Stefan Kramer and Benedikt Maurenbrecher of Homburger explore structuring options for international and domestic covered bonds involving a Swiss issuer