Search results for

By Bernd Volk, head of European covered bond research at Deutsche Bank, explains why new underlying assets mean covered bonds are firmly on banks' radar

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.

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.

New rules increasing Canadian targets’ ability to use poison pills are up for comment

Recent rules are intended to pave the way for Mexico’s fast-moving Fibra sector. How will this new direction affect the market?

Randall Barquero On May 20 2014, Law 9246 – the Law on Guarantees on Movable Assets (Law)– was published in the official Costa Rican law gazette La Gaceta. In approving this type of law, Costa Rica joins various other countries in the region which seek to give better financing opportunities to businesses, particularly small and medium companies. The Law is based on the Inter-American Model Law on Guarantees on Movable Assets prepared by the Organization of American States. It will allow the constitution of guarantees over specific items of movable property, or a generic group of these, as well as on inventories, equipment, circulating assets, and account receivables. The Government of Costa Rica, as well as the country´s legal and business sectors, have high hopes that the law will stimulate and increase the access to credit for companies in the productive sector of the Costa Rican economy that otherwise could not provide suitable collateral for normal credit structures.

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

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.

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.