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Jeff Bullwinkel, Microsoft's director of legal for the Asia Pacific, explains why a complance benchmark would help assure firms that they can adopt the cloud without flouting the region’s maze of regulations

Linklaters' Michael Bott and Ryan Ayrton analyse the new clauses that are helping bank syndicates navigate sanctions' impact complex financial instruments

The US district court judge lost his battle against the SEC’s settlement policy, but he may have won the war. Here, a former SEC commissioner explains why

Oene Marseille Emir Nurmansyah Indonesia's House of Representatives has approved a draft government regulation on National Energy Policy (the Energy Draft), which sets out guidelines for the country's energy policy through to 2050. The passage of this long-term roadmap of Indonesia's energy policy is not without controversy and as of June 2014, the draft regulation has not been signed by the President. The Energy Draft 's target is for the nation's electricity capacity to more than double by 2025 to 115GW (as of end 2013, the installed capacity is 47GW). The capacity is envisioned to further increase to 430GW by 2050.

Pedro Cortés Marta Mourão Teixeira The Legislative Assembly of Macau is debating the proposal of a law on the prevention and repression of corruption in the context of external trade. The UN Convention Against Corruption, adopted on October 31 2003 in New York and ratified by the People's Republic of China (PRC) on January 13 2006 establishes, in its 16th article, that each State Party should adopt legislative and other measures to discipline acts of corruption by foreign public officials and officials of public international organisations, whether undertaken actively or passively.

John Breslin Karole Cuddihy The Irish High Court decision in Ulster Bank Ireland Limited v Dermody (2014) has raised an evidential issue for financial institutions contemplating debt enforcement and possession proceedings. The issue is whether, in proceedings brought by a bank, evidence grounding the proceedings can be given by an officer or employee of a legal entity other than the bank. In a number of cases, the intended deponent will in fact be an employee of a related company (or in some cases an employee of an external service provider), even if they have carried out the day-to-day dealings with the customer. In Dermody, the person who swore the affidavits grounding the application for summary judgment was not an employee of Ulster Bank Ireland Limited (UBIL), but rather of Ulster Bank Limited (UBL), a related company which dealt with the debt collection process of UBIL on its behalf. UBIL was a wholly owned subsidiary of UBL.

Ecommerce in India is growing exponentially in several areas, including online travel services, retail, and other services such as taxis, education, hospitality, food and drink and even secretarial support. According to industry surveys, ecommerce could represent up to four percent of India's economy by 2020, compared to less than one percent now.

Nobuaki Ito The Anti-monopoly Act of Japan was promulgated on December 13 2013 and is expected to come into force within 18 months (the specific date to be determined by way of cabinet order). The Act will abolish administrative appeal procedures by the Japan Fair Trade Commission (JFTC) for certain JFTC orders. In addition, a supplementary provision of the amended act provides that the government will, within one year of the promulgation date, consider changes to investigation procedures to preserve the rights of potential interested parties and maintain consistency with other administrative procedures, and will take appropriate measures as necessary in accordance with the discussions. In response to this, an advisory panel was set up and one of the main points for consideration is whether attorney-client privilege should be introduced for anti-monopoly procedures in Japan. In Japan, there is no attorney-client privilege in criminal or administrative investigation procedures. However, some assert that this should be granted in respect of anti-monopoly investigation procedures because: (i) companies providing information which involve communications with their attorneys in response to report orders from the JFTC may possibly be waiving attorney-client privilege that, with respect to these communications, would otherwise be recognised in foreign jurisdictions; and, (ii) granting attorney-client privilege to an extent similar to common law jurisdictions will not unduly hinder JFTC investigations and the JFTC can seek and collect relevant non-protected materials.

Tomasz Konopka Borys D Sawicki Ms X, an accountant at company A, domiciled in country B, receives a phone call. Someone on the other side of the line explains that he is calling her in connection with a new project run by company A in which her assistance will be required. Shortly after, Ms X receives an e-mail from a top level manager of company A (whom she has never met personally), Mr Z, referring to that call and repeating the message. Mr Z explains the relevance of the project to company A and stresses the importance of Ms X's involvement for its success. He also requests Ms X to keep the matter secret and to work on the assignment solely with him. Ms X feels honoured. Not long after the call, Ms X receives her first task in the project: she has to wire €450,000 ($613,000) from company A's bank account to an account of a company (unknown to her) in Country C. The following days bring several similar requests; Ms X wires the monies and Mr Z praises her assistance and encourages her to continue, as the project is about to be successfully completed. But before the successful completion arrives, Ms X's direct superior finally notices the transfers from the bank account of company A and demands explanations. A few hours later, it is clear that Mr Z (the real one) has never contacted Ms X nor instructed her to make any money transfer. At which time, however, the monies are already in a bank account in country C. The story is neither unrealistic nor exceptional – frauds similar to the one depicted above are occurring more and more often. There are several reasons for this, the shift towards electronic means of communication in lieu of direct (face to face) contacts being one of them. Loosened relations between staff and managers and properly employed social engineering generate opportunities for those willing to take advantage of the dangerous mix created by modern technology and people's gullibility. While there is no way (and no need) to stop technological progress, companies assisted by experts, including lawyers experienced in similar matters, may undertake various precautionary steps to mitigate the threat.

The lighter side of the past month in the world of financial law