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Banji Adenusi In February 2013, the Nigerian Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced plans to introduce asset-backed securities to the capital market, primarily as a way to further deepen the market, and to provide long term financing for key areas of the economy such as agriculture, infrastructure, and mortgage markets. Despite the fact that the issuance of securitisations has slumped in recent years – world markets, especially the United States and Europe, are becoming more dependent on government support and central banks – it is a welcome development that will hold exciting prospects for investors, as it affords the opportunity to gain direct risk exposure to diversified sectors of the economy. From the standpoint of the originator, apart from the obvious advantage of diversification of funding sources and off-balance sheet accounting (in some instances), the biggest incentive for securitisation lies in the ability of the originator to transfer the risk of the recovery of the receivables to the investor. Given the uncertainty that trails structured finance products in most developed markets, especially the regulatory framework, it will be interesting to observe SEC's approach in the regulation of securitisations, and whether the major issues affecting its regulation in Europe and the United States will also be encountered in Nigeria. Essentially, the greater concern relates to risk retention, where in both the United States and Europe (under the Frank Dodd Act and the Basel II framework respectively) the requirement is to have the originator retain a material net economic interest of 5% loss on the transaction on an ongoing basis (known as the 5% first loss position), which will invariably lead to greater administrative and capital costs for originators, and a greater burden of due diligence on both investors and originators.

In-house have a critical role in implementing the Equator Principles. Here’s how due diligence processes must converge with independent reviews

Italy’s high yield bond rules aim to open the country’s debt markets. Here’s what prospective bondholders need to know about the new regime

Banks and lawyers are at odds with the UK Association of Corporate Treasurers, private placement working group over the principal barrier to domestic market growth.

South Africa is the continent’s guiding light on competition matters

Financing sweeteners are being used in Brazil to encourage local borrowing by inbound investors.



Freddy Karyadi Oene Marseille The Government has recently issued several new Ministry of Finance (MoF) regulations (PMK) relating to general tax provisions, in order to improve the implementation of Government Regulation 74/2011 (PP-74), which is the main implementing regulation of the General Tax Provisions and Procedures Law (KUP Law). The MoF seems to want to streamline the prevailing regulations by putting as much content as possible in the PMKs to minimise the issuance of lower-ranked tax regulations. The tax audit is one of the new MoF regulations which will be discussed below.

Asia’s securities regulators are firmly focused on protecting retail investors. But there are limits to what they can achieve

What can the financial services industry expect from the new UK regulatory authorities?

Julieta Rodriguez Molina In this era of increased globalisation, the need for strategically located regional headquarters is paramount. Multinational companies are dividing their operations in homogeneous markets so as to allow them to more effectively address key differences between regions, which in turn allows for closer interaction with consumers, clients and stakeholders, which will ultimately help these companies to achieve sustainable long-term growth. Ideally situated in the middle of Latin America, the Republic of Panama offers the best environment for any multinational company establishing a regional headquarters. As of January 1 2012, 63 international companies have already established regional branches in Panama, including Samsung Electronics, LG, DHL, Dell, Hutchison Port Holding Group, HSBC, Maersk, Scotia Bank, Assicurazioni Generali, Tetrapack, PSA Peugeot Citroen, General Electric, Johnson and Johnson, Caterpillar, Procter & Gamble, Unilever and McDonalds.