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Manuel Atencia Ignacio Inigo Starting in 2011, the Spanish legislator has introduced a series of reforms which have included the possibility to cram-down creditors through the Spanish scheme of arrangement (homologación judicial).

Andrew M Garbarski Criminal liability of corporations entered into force in Switzerland in October 2003. However, except for the Swiss Post matter and certain other isolated cases, only a small number of prosecutions have been conducted against corporations so far, let alone resulted in their condemnation. But as evidenced by recent public announcements from the Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland in connection with the so-called 1MDB scandal, the latest trend seems to be launching more systematically criminal investigations against corporations (such as financial institutions). This is particularly the case in matters relating to money laundering or corruption.

Foifa Tharaphan Albert T Chandler On July 4 2016, the Secured Transactions Act came into force. Following this, the department of business development (DBD) launched the online system for registering business collateral agreements. The qualified security recipient must be a financial institution regulated by the Bank of Thailand. A draft of the ministerial regulation allowing additional types of qualified persons to be security recipients is now going through the legislation process.

Ha Hoang Loc Nguyen Thi Minh Phuong The Council of Justices of the Supreme People's Court has legal authority to select trial decisions and judgments from all courts which have taken legal effect in order to develop them into judicial case law. It can then publish this case law for the courts to apply in adjudicating subsequent cases.

France's new anti-corruption law has been heralded as a small revolution in the battle against white collar crime. It also indicates a growth in French extraterritoriality to rival the US and UK's treatment of corrupt practices.

New York state's proposed cyber security regulation for financial services companies is by far the most comprehensive set of digital security rules in the US. It has been met with scepticism by some though.

When the UK's Tesco Bank was hacked in November, and the criminals made away with £2.5 million ($3.1 million) from 9,000 customer accounts, it was called the worst cyber-attack in British banking history. The firm's response involved a call to other banks to work together as an industry, to protect consumers and the financial system as a whole.

China may have made a comeback in credit-risk mitigation products by launching its first batch of credit default swaps (CDS) but pricing them will be impossible without an auction mechanism in place.

Jeremy Cunningham Andrew Yang Dannelle Howley There have been some interesting recent developments in the legal markets in Asia-Pacific, with firms making moves that reveal their local and international strategies. In Hong Kong, CLIFFORD CHANCE hired corporate partner Frank Yuen from independent firm Woo Kwan Lee & Lo to enhance its offering to local clients. Yuen is focused on Hong Kong listings and related public mergers and acquisitions. Last year he acted for billionaire Li Ka-shing on a major reorganisation of his $97 billion business empire.

Joseph Condo In a major shakeup in central America, global law firm DENTONS announced a proposal to open offices in central America through a combination with MUÑOZ GLOBAL. The Costa Rican-based Muñoz brothers, José Antonio Muñoz and Pedro Muñoz, have split from leading firm Arias & Muñoz, which will now be known simply as ARIAS. Muñoz Global will also have offices in Panama and Nicaragua. Gisela Alvarez de Porras will act as managing partner of the Panama office, having previously acted as managing partner of Arias & Muñoz's Panama office, but left the firm in April 2016 to serve on an Advisory Committee of Independent Experts for the Government of Panama to review financial practices. The partnership for the Nicaragua office is yet to be announced.