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Samantha Gallagher, Arnold & Porter The announced dissolution of Heenan Blaikie is significant on many levels. Aside from being the biggest collapse in Canada's legal market, it may also point to severely limited restructuring options for other large law firms that see their profits dwindle. Moreover, it has flooded the Canadian legal market with professionals in many different practice areas looking for a new platform. One of the firms to benefit is MCCARTHY TÉTRAULT, which picked up Frederico Marques, a Brazilian-qualified lawyer who acts as a foreign legal consultant in Canada. Before joining Heenan, Marques worked in-house at Vale, Brasil Telecom and Odebrecht, applying his expertise in M&A, joint ventures and financing transactions in the mining and infrastructure sectors.

Besnik Duraj The new Albanian government, formed after the 2013 general elections, has already fulfilled one of its election promises: the reform of the Albanian tax system from flat tax to tiered rates. Significant amendments have been introduced in the national laws on income tax, national taxes, tax procedures, excise, local taxes, value-added tax, the hydrocarbon tax system, and health contributions. The most important changes as of January 1 2014 are briefly presented below.

Carlos Fradique-Mendez Luis Gabriel Morcillo During 2013, the Colombian Government enacted several regulations simplifying private equity and venture capital (PE/VC) funds' legal framework, providing legal stability and confidence to local and foreign investors (including foreign funds). As of June 2013, local funds may be structured with different participation units reflecting variable fees, preferred returns, or investor types, and which should be now placed in the custody of independent trust companies, following international trends on the protection of funds' interests. A significant reform was the introduction of a new category of investment funds focused on real estate assets, which should now be managed through a regulated management structure that permits large numbers of real estate properties to be exploited through these types of funds. At the same time, one concern remains relating to the issuance of Decree 1848 of 2013, which modified tax withholding rules on the distribution of PE/VC funds. However, the Colombian private equity industry relies on some structured competitive advantages that attract foreign investment, such as treating carried interest as a capital gain and not as ordinary income commonly subject to a tax rate of 10%, or that the fund itself is not subject to income tax (the transparency principle). Decree 1848 introduced a specific methodology that must be applied by the local fund's administrator when determining the portion of the corresponding distribution that is subject to withholding tax.

Recently announced EU reforms introduce yet another set of compliance considerations for traders, and the possibility of greater regulatory intervention

Costas Stamatiou Following the bail-in of depositors as a condition of international financial support to Cyprus in March 2013, restrictive measures were imposed on deposits within the Cyprus banking system as of March 15 2013. These restrictions are gradually being relaxed, and the government has announced that it hopes to remove them entirely in the first few months of 2014. It should be noted that the restrictive measures apply only to funds within the Cyprus banking system as of March 15 2013. Any funds introduced after that date are free of any restriction. Further progress towards the normalisation of the banking system has been made with the release by Bank of Cyprus, the largest commercial bank, of €950 million ($1.3 billion) of blocked deposits. When the bank was recapitalised in July 2013, €2.9 billion of deposits were blocked. The target date for release of the first tranche of €950 million was the end of January 2014, with an option for the bank to roll over the deposits for a further period of six months. Having established evidence of improving stability in its deposit base and an increasing level of customer confidence, the bank's management determined that there was no need to exercise the option to roll over the deposits, and accordingly released them. The Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank of Cyprus have welcomed this move as a significant step in strengthening the confidence of the public and investors, and as an indication that the banking system is on course for stabilisation.

Sudish Sharma Sonia Abrol Since liberalisation, India has been an attractive destination for most international brands. From time to time, the Indian Government reviews foreign direct investment (FDI) limits when FDI is allowed in new sectors, whereas limits of investment in the existing sectors are modified according to economic conditions and considerations. One sector that has drawn a lot of interest and attention is single-brand retailing, which was significantly liberalised in 2012 but was attached with several onerous conditions, such as local sourcing from small vendors. The extant FDI policy of India on single-brand retail envisages that each investor in this sector will sell products of a single brand only, whereas several multinational groups own multiple brands under a single entity or investment group. Foreign investors argue that having separate companies for each brand creates operating complexities, in some cases making the Indian venture unviable.

Nao Ohira The Financial Services Agency of Japan published proposed amendments (the Amendments) and started to accept public comments, to ordinances and other legislation relating to the Money Lending Business Act, on January 27 2014. The purpose of the Amendments is to exclude (under certain conditions) restrictions imposed by the Money Lending Business Act (the Regulations) in cases where a company makes a loan to another company belonging to the same group, and also in cases where an investor who owns shares in a joint venture business makes a loan to such business. Under the Money Lending Business Act, a person who intends to engage in a money lending business must be registered with the relevant government authority, satisfy strict conditions and abide by various regulations.

The introduction of new substance requirements for global business companies operating from Mauritius, which will become effective on January 1 2015, are part and parcel of a strategy to further boost financial services and increase their input to the country's gross domestic product (GDP).

Pedro Cortés Marta Mourão Teixeira On January 14 2014, the Macau Monetary Authority reported that, according to the 2014 Report on the Index of Economic Freedom (the Index) drawn by the Heritage Foundation, the Macau Special Administrative Region (SAR) takes 29th place amongst the 178 ranked global economic systems, as well as seventh place out of 42 countries in the Asia-Pacific region, right after Hong Kong, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, Chinese Taiwan and Japan. The score awarded to Macau's economic freedom is 71.3. Its overall score is quite higher than both world and regional averages.

Hogan Lovells’ Imtiaz Shah and Erin Kiem on why foreign investors are choosing joint ventures with local partners over traditional franchise arrangements