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Firms are facing hurdles in the race to tap the retail investor market. Debevoise & Plimpton’s Erica Berthou, Jordan Murray and Evan Neu analyse the challenges

Kamraj Nayagam Adam Lee Malaysia's Construction Industry Payment and Adjudication Act 2012 (CIPAA) came into force on April 15 2014. The CIPAA is described as 'an Act to facilitate regular and timely payment, to provide a mechanism for speedy dispute resolution through adjudication, to provide remedies for the recovery of payment in the construction industry and to provide for connected and incidental matters'. The CIPAA applies to construction works carried out wholly or partly within the territory of Malaysia; it relates to any payment disputes and is not limited to interim payments. Section 35 of the CIPAA provides that 'any conditional payment provision in a construction contract in relation to payment under the construction contract is void'. There is a possibility that these provisions will impact contracts in other countries connected to Malaysia.

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

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.

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

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

All but two of the region’s governments intend to use it

Li Hua, Squire Patton Boggs In the last month there has been movement in the increasingly vibrant Chinese market. SQUIRE PATTON BOGGS – the result of a merger between US firms Squire Sanders and Patton Boggs in early June – made its first partner hire in the country by bringing in competition expert Li Hua from Gide Loyrette Nouel. Elsewhere FANGDA PARTNERS hired Michael Han – former head of Freshfields' China competition practice. Han is focused on competition law and is recognised as an authority in PRC competition matters.

Compared to the US and EU's established financial services regimes, Asia's regulators have largely been ignored by those beyond its borders. That began to change last year, when the region's supervisors begun asserting their extraterritorial authority. China's Ministry of Commerce (Mofcom) has attracted the most attention, delaying the merger between Glencore and Xstrata and recently blocking a three-way freight merger.

What reforms must PM Narendra Modi prioritise to kick-start the investment cycle