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Ippei Nishiuchi On December 26 2016, the act promoting implementation of specified integrated resort areas – the so-called Japanese 'casino law' – was promulgated and partially came into force. The act mainly aims to set out the fundamental principles and policies concerning the establishment of 'specified integrated resort areas', which are locations certified by the government as areas within which casino facilities can be established. Outside these areas, it will continue to be illegal to operate casinos.

Jose Florante M Pamfilo Recently, the Philippine supreme court voted to deny the petition made in the case of Roy vs Herbosa (GR number 207246) to invalidate SEC Memorandum Circular number 8-2013 (guidelines on compliance with the Filipino-foreign ownership requirements prescribed in the constitution and/or existing laws by corporations engaged in nationalised and partly-nationalised activities) (MC 8-2013) issued by the Philippine securities and exchange commission (SEC).

In late 2016, the Slovak parliament passed an amendment to the income tax act that introduced several tax-related changes. Along with a reduction in the corporate income tax rate from 22% to 21%, the most important changes concerned taxes on dividends, to be implemented progressively beginning January 1 2017.

Beatriz Causapé Laura Torrecilla In a context where Spanish banks continue to sell their non-performing loans (NPLs) to reduce the level of their provisions and improve their solvency ratios, several national and regional rules have been approved, and resolutions passed recently in an attempt to protect debtors, who are often in precarious situations.

Nguyen Hoang Ly Public offering or private placement

Susanne Schreiber Cyrill Diefenbacher On February 12 2017, the corporate tax reform III draft (CTR III draft) was rejected in a national referendum. As a result of that rejection, a new bill will have to be elaborated and agreed on within a short time frame by the Federal Council and Parliament. It is still expected that a new bill will introduce certain accompanying fiscal measures aimed at maintaining the international competitiveness of Switzerland, but the bill also needs to be in a form that attracts majority support and counters reservations of expected losses in tax revenues.

The European Securities and Markets Authority (Esma) last week called for all hedging arrangements at share class level – with the exception of currency risk hedging – to be set up as separate funds or sub-funds.

Tech firm Snap's decision to go public with only no-vote shares on offer is a bold move that's unlikely to become a trend, despite the fears of some investors. The decision taken by the parent company of instant messaging app Snapchat has incensed investors, so much so that a number of US pension funds are in the process of writing Snap's executives a strongly-worded letter.

China's State Administration of Foreign Exchange (Safe) shocked Hong Kong and mainland Chinese investors by recently allowing onshore PRC investors to participate in Hong Kong IPOs raised by Chinese companies as cornerstones – provided that they agree to a number of conditions.

EU investors won a lengthy and hard-fought right in December when officials gave shareholders a greater say on director pay. This comes amid a rising tide of shareholders campaigning for more power over the workings of the companies they invest in, and it seems nowhere in the world is safe. Authorities also want to discourage short-term investments, a goal that's seen the introduction of additional voting rights for long-term shareholders in certain countries including France. They now want shareholders to take the reins on challenging companies from the regulators.