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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.

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

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

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.

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.

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).

In 2013, Mauritius proceeded with the inauguration of a modern state-of-the-art passenger terminal at Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam International Airport. The new terminal, which covers a total surface area of 57,000 m2, will enable the country to handle 4 million passengers annually (against 2.7 million presently), whilst helping to project Mauritius on the international scene and boost commercial exchanges and the tourism industry. The main idea is to provide the latest in terms of infrastructure in order to increase the number of foreigners entering Mauritius.

Olga Barreto of Consortium explains the rights and obligations of the country's microcredit entities

Banji Adenusi In December 2013, the Central Bank of Nigeria released the guidelines on the implementation of Basel II/III recommendations of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, which implementation took effect from January 2014. While the timeframe for implementation of the minimum capital adequacy computation under Basel II rules will commence in June 2014, the banks have already begun a parallel run of the Basel II capital adequacy computation along with existing Basel I requirements. In specifying the approaches for quantifying the risk-weighted assets for the purpose of determining regulatory capital, the banks are required to adopt the standardised approach in relation to market and credit risks, with the basic indicator approach adopted for operational risk. Rather than adopt a sweeping endorsement of the Basel II/III accords however, the Central Bank (CBN) has modified the guidelines, taking into consideration the present realities of the Nigerian banking system. Credit risk modifications abound in the risk weight assigned to inter-bank transactions and exposures guaranteed by the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN) or CBN, exposures to FGN or CBN transactions denominated in naira and funded in that currency, amongst others, which carry risk weight of 0%. Other modifications include exposures secured by residential mortgage loans, which carry a risk weight of 100%, compared to the recommended 35% in the Basel II accord. Unrated on-balance sheet securitisation carries a risk weight of 1250%, whereas the Basel II accord provides no risk weight for such transaction.

In late 2013, the Slovak Parliament approved an amendment to the income tax act (the Amendment). One of the objectives of the Amendment is to fight tax evasion. Some of the most interesting changes are: higher withholding rate/tax security; the right to tax Slovak tax non-residents on certain transactions; introduction of tax licences; and, tax rate for legal entities reduced to 22%. Higher withholding rate