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Japanese bondholders have reacted strongly to the upcoming presidential elections in France. And if their behaviour on the debt financial markets is anything to go by, then France is headed for trouble. The country's investors have been buying a growing amount of offshore debt in the past year, driven out of their home nation by the bank of Japan's restrictive monetary policy and low – sometimes negative – fixed-rate returns on so-called JGBs. According to Bank of Japan data, they hold JPY 27 trillion ($240 billion) of French bonds, or roughly 11% of their portfolio. Only their US holdings are larger (JPY 122 trillion).

This new asset class may classify as bail-in eligible debt, but teething problems have been felt in several EU jurisdictions

Regulators globally are faced with the prospect of having to balance compliance and consumer protection with the promotion of new business models and innovation

Recent US rules were designed to tackle issues identified in some asset-backed security markets. But it’s still uncertain whether keeping an interest in the securities issued will improve their quality

The South African retailer's capital reorganisation was complicated by the existence of three tiers of debt, the company’s scale and its national importance

Roxanne Almaraz The crossover from February into March has seen plenty of partner movement in the US, with Houston replacing Washington DC as a nascent hotspot for lateral moves.

The critical status of clearing houses in the derivatives market is protected by EU-level regulation. But the fact that no single solution has been chosen to tackle potential issues is causing concern.

Make financial markets self-correct again

On November 23 2016, the Swiss Federal Council published its dispatch for a reform of Swiss corporate law. Along with the dispatch, a draft act amending the Swiss Code of Obligations was presented. The draft act seeks to modernise Swiss corporate law with a focus on increasing the flexibility of the provisions governing company formation and capital structure. Furthermore, it aims to modernise corporate governance by strengthening shareholder rights, and promoting gender diversity on corporate boards and senior management of listed companies. It also replaces the provisions of the (interim) Ordinance on Excessive Compensation (Minder-Ordinance) by a federal act of parliament with only a few changes. Depending on how parliament receives this project, we expect the draft act to enter into force as early as 2019.

Stepping up The US acted as guarantor of Iraq’s first international sovereign bond, a move which helped the Middle Eastern nation secure capital markets’ support to reduce its public deficit