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On May 23 2014, the Kenyan Parliament ratified the Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA) signed with Mauritius in 2012 so as to make it effective as of January 1 2015. Mauritius will bring the DTAA into effect on publication of a Gazette notice – this is expected to take place before January 1 2015.

Karla María León Navarro Several laws have been enacted in Panama to regulate contracts and relationships between employers and employees. These involve specific principles to use in a labour dispute involving a disavantageous position for the workforce. Before a dispute, the judge must take into account one particular legal principle, which has been created to promote an equal relationship. The principle is mainly to protect the worker, who is presented as the legally weaker party compared with the more powerful employer. The principle in dubio pro operario was set out in the Labour Law for several reasons. First, the worker is subject to the employer's disciplinary power, direction and orders. This is a form of economic dependence for the employee, who receives benefits such as a salary, paid holiday, health insurance, sick pay, and retirement contributions.

The first sukuk issued by a non-Muslim country bolsters London’s plan Islamic finance hub plans

Banji Adenusi In May 2014, the Nigerian Securities and Exchange Commission issued new rules to address the influx of offshore mutual funds and collective investment schemes (CISs) soliciting investment from investors in Nigeria. The Rules on Approval of Foreign Collective Investment Schemes 2014 aims to bring foreign CISs (registered and regulated under the relevant foreign jurisdiction) which are seeking investments from Nigeria under the jurisdiction of the SEC. As part of requirements for eligibility to solicit investments, foreign CISs that have no intention of listing on the Nigerian exchanges are required to invest no less than 20% of the fund's total assets in Nigeria (Rule 2g). Obviously, the key consideration is the retention of a minimum level of investment within the Nigerian market, and by extension the reduction of capital flight. Equally, the foreign operator is required to appoint a representative in Nigeria for the life of the fund approved in Nigeria. This appointed representative can either be a duly registered fund manager with whom the foreign operator may enter into a representative agreement, or a freshly incorporated representative entity registered with SEC (Rule 3b). Solicitation of investments in the fund is then carried on through the representative (Rule 4). Where the foreign operator elects to incorporate a vehicle for the purposes of registration with the SEC, such local incorporation throws up a host of regulatory compliance requirements, including licensing with the Nigerian Investment Promotion Council and compliance with the various applicable tax regimes.

Soonghee Lee The Korean public's attention has recently turned to some scandalous events involving various Korean conglomerates (more generally known as chaebols). W Group and S Group filed for bankruptcy, followed by D Group. Although W Group successfully restored its ordinary management and operation early on, D Group is still at the centre of complicated social and economic criticisms due to its financial institution affiliations and issues of financial consumer protection. All of these groups are large corporate groups ranked among the top 20 in terms of capital. Korea had already experienced a series of bankruptcy filings by chaebols during the Asian financial crisis from the late 1990s until the early 2000s, when H Group, J Group and K Group went bankrupt one after the other. In some other chaebols, all decision-making was suspended due to the criminal prosecution of chief executive officers. At the moment, all of the chief executive officers of T Group, S Group, H Group and C Group have been criminally prosecuted or are involved in a criminal trial. H Group was investigated by the National Tax Service and the Prosecutor's Office.

What is troubling the regulator - and how the market can help

A disjointed regulatory framework has hampered efforts to oversee private investment funds. Here are the lessons that must inform the next round of rulemaking

Ignacio Buil Aldana José Luis Lucena Rebollo Under the Spanish Insolvency Act, clawback is a mechanism enabling an insolvent company's trustee (or the creditors, indirectly) to challenge transactions it entered into within two years of an insolvency declaration, if these transactions are prejudicial to the estate. Even if the parties acted in good faith, proof of prejudice to the estate is sufficient to avoid the transaction and restore the company to the position it would have been in had it not carried out the transaction. In practice, clawback risk contributes to an atmosphere of legal uncertainty for creditors involved in transactions with distressed companies. These transactions typically include refinancing agreements, the granting of fresh money, amendments to the security interest, and even assignments of debt positions.

Krung Thai Bank’s Tier 2 offering has become the first internationally-sold Basel III-compliant offering from Thailand. Here's how

Banks’ use of the template is not as guaranteed The Asia Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (Asifma) is drafting an umbrella agreement to supplement Hong Kong's comfort letter standard. It is expected to speed up negotiations between underwriters and auditors. The Hong Kong Standard on Investment Circular Reporting Engagements 400 (HKSIR 400), which was revised in December 2012, sets out the form and substance for comfort letters and bring-down letters. Since HKSIR 400's revision, Asifma has been having discussions with its members regarding an umbrella agreement to supplement the HKSIR 400 form for debt capital markets deals.