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Rodrigo Taboada On March 26 2014, the President of Nicaragua approved Decree 17-2014, which was published in the Gazette, official newspaper of the Republic of Nicaragua on March 31 2014. The Decree establishes the application of measures for the freezing of funds or assets related to terrorism and the financing of it, in accordance with resolutions issued by the United Nations Security Council that specifically address and regulate such matters. The scope of the Decree covers all individuals and legal entities, both private and public, which might be suspected to be involved directly or indirectly in activities related to funds or assets used to finance terrorism. The Democratic Security National System (DSNS) receives a list formulated by the United Nations Security Council, which contains the names of persons, natural and legal, that are associated with terrorist activities and financing of terrorism. The DSNS also receives information from other international and local entities. After processing the information, the DSNS designates the persons whose funds or assets are considered to be susceptible to being frozen, then sends this list to all local entities so that they may: (i) detect in their own database funds or assets related to the persons that appear on the list; (ii) freeze all funds or assets detected; and (iii) inform in a strictly confidential manner to the Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit the enforcement of such measures.

Regulators must give up on turning back the clock The UK Prudential Regulation Authority's (PRA) proposals for the senior manager regime have drawn criticism from the City over the past month. According to the PRA, the proposals are intended to create a new framework to encourage individuals to take greater responsibility for their actions, and will make it easier for both firms and regulators to hold individuals to account.

On November 28, the European Banking Authority (EBA) released its consultation on the criteria for determining the minimum requirement for own funds and eligible liabilities for bail-in, the so-called MREL. Using MREL, European authorities will ensure that banks have enough liabilities to absorb losses in case of failure, forcing shareholders and creditors to shoulder much of the recapitalisation burden, instead of taxpayers.

Banji Adenusi As a form of financial derivative involving the sale of securities, repos are central to the provision of liquidity in the financing and trading of treasury securities. The Nigerian repo market, however, remains largely dominated by the money and interbank markets as the main liquidity providers. With their global attractiveness, the primary concerns in Nigeria relate to the validity, enforceability of netting provisions, transfer of title and recharacterisation of repos. Bearing in mind that repos can sometimes be said to operate in a manner similar to secured credit transactions, perhaps these concerns are worth highlighting. In Nigeria, the laws applicable to derivatives are equally applicable to repos (section 315 of the Investment and Securities Act), while securities lending appears to be a generic term encompassing a host of transactions including repos. The approach favoured by the Nigerian Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is to interpret all types of dealings involving securities as falling within the ambit of section 315. The validity of these transactions is guaranteed, further taking into consideration their non-classification as unlawful gaming contracts.

Countries across the Asia Pacific are trying to manage domestic companies' foreign currency exposure. It's prompted not only by rumours that the US is considering ending quantitative easing, but also the European Central Bank's plans to embark on a similar bond buying programme.

Five months have passed since the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (AIFMD) was implemented in Norway. Since July 1 2014, a relatively large number of applications have been filed with the Financial Supervisory Authority of Norway (FSAN), concerning both marketing in Norway of non-EEA alternative investment funds (AIFs) of EEA alternative investment fund managers (AIFMs) and AIFs of non-EEA AIFMs. The FSAN have slowly but steadily been working through the pile of applications and after a somewhat slow start in July and August, have now increased the pace. To date, approximately 30% of the filed applications have been handled. Of these, approximately 65% relate to non-EEA AIFs of non-EEA AIFMs and 35% relate to non-EEA AIFs of EEA AIFMs.

France's stock market watchdog has confirmed that it will not implement regulations on high frequency trading (HFT) that would clash with Europe-wide rules.

Jose Luis Sosa In recent years, there have been an increasing number of mergers and acquisitions involving Panamanian bank branches and subsidiaries. This M&A activity has resulted in an increase of regional conglomerates consolidated in Panama that include banks as part of their business holdings. As a result, and in an effort to safeguard the Panamanian financial system from extraneous risk, and beyond its regulatory purview, the Panamanian Superintendence of Banks recently issued Resolution 007-2014 (Resolution 007), which will enter into force on January 1 2015. This extends regulatory oversight to all entities of a single corporate group that includes banks and that are consolidated in Panama, even beyond Panama's borders.

Bank of China's RMB 39.94 billion ($6.5 billion) additional tier 1 (AT1) offering proved the depth of Asia's capital markets. The bank's innovative structure has also set a precedent for the rest of the industry.

In late October, the Slovak Parliament adopted a comprehensive amendment to the income tax act, introducing changes in direct taxation that will come into force on January 1 2015. Here, we are provide a brief summary of the key changes introduced in the amendment that affect businesses.