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Pedro Cortés Marta Mourão The Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes (Forum) urges jurisdictions to adopt high standards of transparency and information exchange in tax matters. The Forum has raised two red flags in Macau, one of its members. The first one is related to bearer shares, which are adverse to fiscal transparency; and the second one is the lack of substance of the concept 'permanent activity' provided for in the Macau Commercial Code for those companies that have not been incorporated under the laws of Macau and do not have their main office in the region. Given this assessment, to achieve a positive result arising in the third phase of the Forum's evaluation (which is of paramount importance for Macau's position in the external markets), the Macau Government, through the Law Reform and International Law Bureau and the Financial Services Bureau, prepared a document released for public consultation in October 2014.

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.

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.

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.

Ignacio Buil Aldana José Luis Lucena Spanish debt is in the spotlight, and it will continue to be for a while – no market player questions this. However, one preoccupation remains: can equity be crammed-down under Spanish insolvency law? Unfortunately, the answer for the moment is no. Existing regulations do not provide lenders with tools to forcefully cram down the equity in those cases where the latter has no interest. In fact, Spanish debt-for-equity swaps need the consent of shareholders at all times.

The Capital Markets Law 6362 (CML) was adopted on December 30 2013. Since then, the Capital Markets Board of Turkey (CMB) has been revising and updating the relevant secondary legislation in line with the CML, and the demands, practices and necessities in the capital markets. Within this framework, the CMB has issued and changed major communiques governing capital markets activities, one of which is the enactment of Communiqué III/37.1 on the Principles of Investment Services and Ancillary Services (Communique). The Communique clarifies rules and principles applicable to different types of investment services that can be conducted by licensed intermediary institutions and, contrary to previous legislation, it regulates over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives transactions as licensed activities. Having said that, an exception is provided for activities of foreign financial institutions which are conducted on a reverse enquiry basis.

The report seems to have endorsed bail-in-able capital in principle, but with some qualifications

Australia’s treasurer has released its long-awaited Financial System Inquiry Report. It could change the way banks in the country manage regulatory capital

The G20 has proposed a network linking various project finance initiatives and market players. Andrew Briggs, who contributed to the G20 summit publications, explains what will determine its success

The acquisition of a Tokyo-listed UK company required rare regulatory cooperation. It also demonstrated the flexibility of UK schemes of arrangement