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The Saudi Arabian government has announced the planned privatization of over 20 areas of the country's economy.

Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton is representing financial institution HSBC in the $14 billion acquisition of consumer lender Household International, in this year's largest cross-border deal in the US.

Shareholder rights plans or poison pills are a common Canadian takeover bid defence strategy. Used properly, these plans buy target boards time to assess an unsolicited bid and, if necessary, seek alternatives beneficial to its shareholders. Used improperly, they can block a takeover bid and impede a shareholder's right to choose whether to sell its shares and to whom.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission has admitted that tough deadlines for implementing Sarbanes-Oxley mean the regulator has little time to consider exemptions for foreign issuers.

The Colombian Supreme Court of Justice (Corte Suprema de Justicia) has carried out an analysis of the legal nature and characteristics of performance bonds between private parties (by means of Decision No 6785 of May 2 2002). In the Decision, the court established that the bonds were initially regulated by Law 225 of 1938 which set out the legal regime for management and performance bonds with the purpose of assuring compliance with obligations derived from laws or contracts. Law 225, in the opinion of the court, is still in force. The bonds are generally conceived as an insurance by which a creditor is covered against any economic loss that may derive from the eventual breach of their debtor's obligations, transferring such risk to a third party (an insurance company) which assumes it as its own obligation in exchange for the payment of a premium.

The Turkish Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency (the BRSA) has taken on the mission of changing the banking system radically and in furtherance of its efforts has issued the Regulation on the Establishment and Activities of Asset Management Companies (AMCs).

It has become commonly understood in many countries that widely-accepted standards for the operation and control of stock corporations listed on a stock exchange are needed in order to build and maintain investor confidence. To this end, an expert commission in Germany has recently introduced the Corporate Governance Code (available at www.corporate-governance-code.de/eng/kodex/index.html), which aims to make the German corporate governance system transparent and thereby promote the trust of international and national investors, customers, employees and the general public in the management and supervision of German stock corporations listed on a stock exchange. The Code describes existing legally-binding provisions as well as making recommendations for the conduct of such stock corporations. It focuses in particular on shareholders' rights, competence and duties of the management and the supervisory board, transparency in the corporation's field of activity and on the reporting and audit of annual financial statements. The latter aspect has received much attention recently due to a number of accounting scandals, in the US as well as in Germany, which have shown that "good and responsible governance", as the foreword to the Corporate Governance Code puts it, is of greater significance than ever.

The law of August 2 2002 on the supervision of the financial sector and financial services includes some substantial changes to Belgian legislation in connection with statutory liens and security interests in favour of financial intermediaries and clearing and settlement institutions.

Overseas investors queuing up to buy Chinese targets, following the imposition of new M&A rules, may end up disappointed. By Teresa Ko

The international financial community now has its first chance to review proposed changes to the Basel Capital Accord. Chris Bates answers some of the questions bankers may have