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The ABS market’s return in the US features a healthy dose of caution. But growing confidence and the appearance of new structures begs the question: have we been here before?

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.

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

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).

Andri Aidham Badri Putri Norlisa Mohd Najib Under the Labuan Financial Services and Securities Act 2010 and Labuan Islamic Financial Services and Securities Act 2010, the Labuan Financial Services Authority (LFSA) has recently issued its revised Guidelines on the Establishment of Labuan Mutual Funds, including Islamic Mutual Funds, which came into effect on January 1 2014 (the Guidelines). The issuance of the revised Guidelines emphasises the continued commitment by the LFSA to encourage the establishment of Labuan-based mutual funds.

After Hong Kong, which city has the most potential as an offshore RMB hub? Vote now

Phung Thi Thanh Thao On January 3 2014, the Government of Vietnam issued the much anticipated Decree 01/2014/ND-CP (Decree 1) relating to the purchase by foreign investors of shares in Vietnamese credit institutions. Decree 1 replaces Decree 69/2007/ND-CP of the Government of Vietnam, dated April 20 2007, on the purchase of shares by foreign investors in Vietnamese commercial banks (Decree 69). In addition to banks, the new Decree governs finance companies and finance-leasing companies, providing more opportunities for foreign investment. One feature of Decree 1 is the increased ceiling on foreign shareholding permissible for different categories of foreign investors investing in a credit institution in Vietnam. In particular, while a foreign individual investor's shareholding remains limited to a maximum of 5% of the charter capital of a Vietnamese credit institution, an individual foreign organisation may now hold up to 15% shareholding (previously 10%), and a foreign strategic investor may hold up to 20% (previously 15%).