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US firm Rogers & Wells has lost the head and 12 other members of its Latin American group, which specializes in cross-border work and project finance. The head of the group, Roberto Dañino, together with two other partners, Paul Dwyer and Jorge Alers, have left the firm for rival Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering in Washington DC. Dañino is a Peruvian lawyer and former general counsel of the Inter-American Investment Corporation. "We think that the market ahead of us is going to be dependent on DC-based mutilateral organizations such as OPIC and Eximbank and we had to be based in the headquarters of a top firm in the city," says Dañino.

Toronto-based Goodman Phillips & Vineberg has launched its third office in Asia, opening in Singapore in December. Goodman Phillips has had an office in Hong Kong for some 25 years and is the only Canadian firm with an office in Beijing.

The new presence of foreign law firms aggressively staking out territory in Germany is putting pressure on local firms. A second wave of mergers seems to be beginning. Samantha Wigham reports

• Clifford Chance's London office has lost its head of corporate finance, Peter Brooks. Brooks has left to become general counsel for one of his clients, Deutsche Morgan Grenfell. He has worked at Clifford Chance for 28 years.

John Taylor, general counsel at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, London, talks to Diana Bentley

The contract for Laibin B, China's first 100% wholly foreign-owned build-operate-transfer (BOT) power plant, was formally agreed in Beijing on November 11 1996. Under the HK$4.57 billion (US$600 million) contract, GEC Alsthom, an Anglo-French engineering group, and Electricite de France (EDF) will jointly control the company undertaking the contract. EDF will hold a 60% stake and GEC, 40%. The project is scheduled to be completed sometime after 1999, whereupon EDF and GEC will operate the power plant to recoup their investment before the power plant reverts to the Guanxi government at the end of the term.

The single market has promoted growth, employment and competition, but the EU still has some way to go towards meeting the target of creating a set of truly common rules. This is the theme of a major new report to be presented by the Commission at the next European Council meeting in December. The report took two years to complete and gives an overview of the impact and effectiveness of the single market since its inception nearly four years ago.

Recent developments in the legal field in Turkey include the following:

Performance bonds are contracts of guarantee commonly used in international trade. Their commercial purpose is to secure the performance of a primary obligation through assured and prompt payment in case of default. No dispute arising out of the underlying agreement between the principal and the beneficiary of the guarantee ought to interfere with the independent undertaking of the guarantor. Hence, performance bonds invariably include an absolute undertaking by the guarantor to pay 'on first demand'.

The regulatory reforms to the economic and tax regime of the Canary Islands are still awaiting approval by the Spanish authorities. When the process, which started in 1991, is finally completed, the Canary Islands Special Zone will take effect within the framework of the EU, and will remain operative until at least the year 2024. One of its objectives is the creation and development of a Canary Islands financial market.