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Christos Christou The sovereign debt crisis in Greece has resulted in an unprecedented plunge of the GDP by 25%, whereas prices in the local real-estate market have fallen as much as 50% since the crisis hit the country at the end of 2008. As a result, huge investment opportunities have arisen, as both the Greek state and the private sector are trying to liquidate as many assets as possible in order to repay their debts. Still, until recently, foreign investors were reluctant to enter an ill-performing economy, despite the impressive adjustment fiscal programme implemented by the Greek Government and the sweeping structural reforms adopted during the last years, which resulted in a public finance surplus for the first time since Greece joined the eurozone in 2002. One of the main reasons for this was the unfavourable taxation status for real estate investments. Two very interesting recent deals, however, show that the country is again open for business. Canadian Fairfax Financial Holdings invested €200 million ($272 million) within the last year in EFG Eurobank Properties, raising their share from 5.7% to 42%. Prem Watsa, Fairfax's CEO, called the deal "a vote of confidence to the prospects of the Greek economy". A few weeks ago, Dutch private equity Invel Real Estate and BGS Real Estate of the Israeli diamond mogul Beny Steinmetz announced a joint purchase of 66% of Pangea real estate investment company (REIC), Ethniki Bank's real estate unit for €653 million, "betting on a recovery in the country's economy". Both deals have one thing in common: they both relate to an investment in a Greek REIC and this should be no surprise.

Anup Koushik Karavadi Karan Talwar India, as an emerging economy, has hundreds of foreign companies being registered each year. Setting up business in India may be a complex process with its administrative and procedural compliances, but since the liberalisation policy in 1991, the government has time and again made changes, favourable for foreign investment and entry of foreign companies. One of the recent welcome developments is the enactment of the Companies Act, 2013, (the Act), which is more comprehensive than its predecessor, particularly with regard to the concept of a 'foreign company'. The said term is defined in section 2(42) to mean a company or corporate body incorporated outside India, and which has a place of business in India either by itself or through any agent, physically or through electronic mode, and which conducts any business activity in India in any other manner.

The rules on financial instruments admitted to a central depository in dematerialised form are laid down in different pieces of legislation, including articles 83-bis onwards of the Financial Consolidated Act and the Bank of Italy/CONSOB regulation of February 22 2008 (the 2008 Regulation).

John Breslin The recent, high profile, application by the Irish Bank Resolution Corporation, IBRC, (in special liquidation, and previously known as the Anglo Irish Bank) for Chapter 11 protection before the US courts, highlights a difficult issue that frequently arises as the fall-out from Ireland's financial crisis plays out. This is the question of international co-operation in corporate insolvencies. IBRC's US litigation will consider how accommodating Ireland's legal system is to overseas insolvency officers. As Ireland is a member of the EU, the EU Insolvency Regulation (EC/1346/2000) is directly applicable. The Irish Companies Act 1963, in addition, provides for ministerial recognition of foreign insolvency proceedings. However, as the only country specified under this provision is the UK, this is effectively a dead-letter: the EU Insolvency Regulation will apply instead. Therefore, aside from other EU insolvency processes, there is no statutory basis in Ireland for the recognition of foreign insolvency officers.

Takashi Itokawa On November 5 2013, the cabinet order and accompanying regulations amending Japanese short-sale regulations came into force. The amendments consist of three main points: (i) relaxation of the uptick price rule; (ii) confirmation of the reporting and disclosure obligations concerning short-sale positions; and (iii) confirmation of the prohibition of so-called naked short sales. Previously, conducting short sales on a Japanese stock exchange at a price equal to or lower than the market price was prohibited. Following the introduction of the amendments, this uptick price rule will only apply if the price of the relevant stock should decline by 10% or more from the closing price of the preceding business day. This rule is applicable for the period from the day such a decline occurs through to the close of trading the following business day. The amended uptick price rule will also apply to short sales conducted through the proprietary trading systems (such as after-hours stock trading systems provided by certain securities brokers).

On November 12 2013, the Chief Executive of Macau, Chui Sai On, delivered his last policy address of his first term of office.

Jaime de la Torre Viscasillas On May 7 2013, a new alternative fixed-income securities market (Mercado Alternativo de Renta Fija, the MARF) was created in Spain through a resolution passed by the Associate in Insurance Accounting and Finance (AIAF) management company's board of directors. The MARF is a way for companies (whose circumstances prevent them accessing official secondary markets) to obtain financing through the issue of fixed-income securities. Other European countries already have alternative markets listing fixed-income securities, such as Germany's Eurex Bonds GmbH, Luxembourg's EuroMTF, and Ireland's Global Exchange Market – GEM.

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

Assad Abdullatiff Mauritius has, over the last two decades, forged a strong reputation as a premier international financial centre. The combination of fiscal and non-fiscal advantages together with the diverse product-base has been the key ingredient of the Mauritius success story. Although Mauritius is better known as a gateway for the structuring of investments into India and increasingly Africa, it is also being used by professional advisers and their high net worth clients as a jurisdiction of choice for private wealth management services. The enactment of the Foundations Act in 2012 has widened the choice of structures available to wealth management specialists. Traditionally, trusts have been the preferred planning tool in the context of wealth management planning for high net worth families. Mauritius law allows for the setting up of various types of trusts – fixed, discretionary, protective, purpose, spendthrift, Sharia-compliant and charitable trusts. A number of high net worth individuals (HNWI) and ultra-high net worth individuals (UHNWI) already use a Mauritius trust for estate, succession planning and family office services.

Anna Pinedo Basel implementation in the United States continues to progress, as shown by the recent release of a proposed rule on the application of the liquidity coverage ratio, or LCR. The proposed LCR is largely consistent with the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision's LCR standard, but tougher. The proposed rule would apply to internationally-active banking organisations with $250 billion or more in total consolidated assets, or $10 billion or more in on-balance sheet foreign exposure, as well as designated non-bank systemically important financial institutions that do not have substantial insurance operations. A less stringent version, termed LCR lite, would apply to smaller depository institutions. As under the Basel rule, covered companies would be required to hold high-quality liquid assets (HQLA) of at least 100% of the company's total net cash outflows over a prospective 30 calendar-day period. However, the types of assets that qualify as HQLA for US banks are more limited than those considered qualifying for European banks. Under the proposed rule, the measure of the rate of cash outflow is also more punitive, as it is based on the bank's largest net cumulative cash outflow day within a 30-day liquidity stress, as opposed to the more moderate Basel version of this calculation. US banks would have a shorter transition period than that contemplated by Basel. Covered US banks would be required to maintain an LCR of 80% as of January 1 2015, with step-ups until January 1 2017 when the LCR will be fully implemented.