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Oene Marseille Emir Nurmansyah Indonesia passed a Geothermal Bill into law on August 6 2014. This new law revises Law 27 of 2003 on geothermal activities. Previously, geothermal activities were categorised as 'mining' activities. In this new law, geothermal exploitation is specifically set apart from the definition of mining activities. This development is significant, as mining activities are restricted in several forest areas, including conservation and protected forest areas. With the passage of the new law, geothermal exploitation may be carried out in such forest areas, where most of this energy source is located. Indonesia is located in one of the most seismically active zones in the world, the so-called Pacific Ring of Fire. The country has approximately 130 active volcanoes. Due to this high volcanic geology, Indonesia's geothermal potential is large; some estimate that it holds 40% of the world's potential geothermal resources.

Yuichi Miyashita The Financial Stability Board (FSB) is developing proposals addressing gone-concern loss-absorbing capacity (GLAC) for consideration and action at the G20's summit in Brisbane, Australia in November 2014. Although still under discussion at the time of writing, global systemically important banks (G-Sibs) may, in the future, be required to maintain a certain amount of GLAC to offset losses in the event such G-Sibs fail. The FSB has stated that GLAC is vital for authorities to have confidence and for private markets to recognise, that systemically important banks can be resolved in times of crisis without the support of public funds, while taking account of the differences in national resolution regimes. If the scope of GLAC covers senior debts that can be bailed in, a new bail-in mechanism will likely need to be introduced in Japan. The existing resolution regime, which was introduced in March 2014 through an amendment of the Deposit Insurance Act of Japan, only provides for bail-in mechanisms (write-downs or conversions of a financial institution's capital instruments) in relation to certain qualified preferred shares and subordinated debts.

James Sattin A timeless standard by which to assess the ease of doing business in a given jurisdiction, and, indeed, the strength of an economy, is access to credit. With this connection between access to credit and ease of doing business in mind, Panama has recently updated its legislation governing the creation of security interests on personal property by means of Law 129 of 2013. Intended to replace the outdated Decree Law 2 of 1955, the stated purpose of Law 129 is to 'promote access to credit and modernise the system of security interests on personal property.' In particular, some of the shortcomings of the prior regulatory framework were the high costs involved in obtaining credit, the cumbersome and repetitive registration process, the prohibition on obtaining a second or third mortgage on the same property, and the limitations placed on the rates and timeframes of the security instrument. Law 129, based on the model prepared by the Organization of American States (OAS) used in similar legislation throughout Latin America, provides numerous advantages to businesses seeking credit, and especially to small businessmen, who are typically only able to provide security in the form of movable property rather than real estate. Specifically, Law 129 enlarges the types of goods upon which a security interest can be placed, such as the inventory of a business and its intangibles, including trademarks, patents, and intellectual property. Further, the newly-enacted law allows for successive mortgages on the same good, establishes priority rules for security interests, provides a mechanism for the return of money to the consumer when the value of the secured goods exceeds the amount of the outstanding obligation, and streamlines the registration process by replacing the necessity of a public deed for personal property, with the submission of certain forms or sworn declarations which can be directly registered with the public registry, thus saving both time and money.

The recent changes are broadly positive. But Borja Garci´a-Alama´n and José María Gil-Robles explain why they don’t mark the end of the journey

The bank’s latest RMBS deal sidesteps the collateral and cost associated with the usual swap solution

The country's restrictions on promoting offshore products are vague at best. Here’s how foreign marketers can solicit investors, without falling foul of the rules

The country's financial sector must address its large volume of non-performing loans. Gianni Origoni Grippo's Giuseppe Schiavello analyses a recent reform that could make it easier for banks to offload these portfolios

Market conditions are primed for Russian corporates to buy back their eurobonds. Debevoise & Plimpton's James Scoville, Robert Manson and Dmitry Karamyslov describe the particularities of the original issuance structures that must be taken into account

Other capital funds as one of the components of a company´s equity in Slovak entities (Funds) are used primarily when there is a need to inject cash into a company in a very short time. A company's equity comprises: (i) share capital; (ii) capital funds (including the Funds); (iii) funds created from net profit; (iv) profit or loss from previous years; and, (v) after-tax profit or loss for the accounting period. The issue of contributions to Funds has long been a subject of intense legal discussion in Slovakia. The main discussion is focused on the issue of whether the Funds may represent cost free contributions and may be freely returned to the shareholder who provided them.

Isil Ökten Aslihan Özbey The Capital Markets Board of Turkey (CMB) published the Communiqué Serial: III 59.1 on Covered Bonds (new Communiqué) in the Official Gazette on January 21 2014. The New Communiqué is part of regulatory improvements to Turkey's bonds and securitisation market. It introduces a consolidated legal framework regulating asset-covered bonds and mortgage-covered bonds. In order to clarify certain issues under the new Communiqué and to make the issuance of covered bonds more effective in Turkey, the CMB recently published an amendment to the new Communiqué (amended Communiqué). According to the new Communiqué, if any cash collection is made from the assets in the pool, the issuer must either: (i) record the proceeds to the cover registry; (ii) remove the cash from the cover registry for the payments of the covered bonds; or (iii) replace the cash with the new security assets. One of the major amendments to the new Communiqué introduced by the amended Communiqué is that now the issuer is free to use the cash proceeds provided that it complies with the statutory tests and all other liabilities.