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In October the Commission held an oral hearing to discuss the way forward following the publication of its Green Paper on vertical restraints, referred to in the March 1997 issue of International Financial Law Review (see page 62).

Law 8/1987 of June 8 regulating pension funds (Planes y Fondos de Pensiones), provides that each fund has a single managing and a single depositary entity. This gives rise to a system of mutual controls between the entities, and the legal regime of the liabilities arising from their actions. The new law allows pension funds to invest in foreign financial assets, where their investments are regulated by the statutory law pertaining to Spanish outward foreign investment and exchange control.

On November 1 1997, the Investment Fund Ordinance was amended to include an Institutional Investor's Exemption for foreign investment funds. The amendment states, provided there is no public solicitation, non-registered foreign investment funds may be offered and sold in Switzerland to institutional investors with professional treasury, such as banks, insurance companies and pension funds. The limitation to investors with professional treasury does not exclude institutional investors, which have outsourced the treasury department to a bank or the like.

Linklaters & Paines and Sullivan & Cromwell have again risen to the top in a hectic year. Cravath Swaine & Moore and Davis Polk & Wardwell share the Yankee title. Nick Ferguson and Barbara Galli report

UK firm Sinclair Roche & Temperley is to form an alliance with Singapore firm Colin Ng & Partners. Sinclair Roche, which specializes in shipping law, is to cooperate as closely with the Asian banking firm as it can without breaking strict bar regulations. A merger is forbidden by the Singapore law society.

Quebec has moved to drop the requirement that prospectuses must be published in French, as well as other discouragements to foreign issuers. By Andrew Fleming of Ogilvy Renault, London

Tender bids for Singapore's second fixed-line licence and third mobile phone licence closed on December 31 1997.

The collapse of BCCI resulted in a number of cases. The Hong Kong Court of Appeal and the Privy Council (replaced by the Court of Final Appeal in Hong Kong since July 1 1997) have recently delivered two judgments.

The Australian Mutual Provident Society recently carried out a public offering of its 9.1% interest in Westpac Banking Corporation for US$1 billion. The Westpac Corporation shares were sold by Australian Mutual Provident in the form of STRYPES (Structured Yield Product Exchangeable for Stock), underwritten by Merrill Lynch.

UK firm Allen & Overy announced that it is to merge with 65-lawyer Italian firm Brosio, Casati e Associati. Meanwhile, Haarmann Hemmelrath & Partner has become the second German firm to open an office in Italy. In the last year the following foreign firms have all opened in Italy or added to an existing presence: Clifford Chance, Freshfields, Simmons & Simmons and Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton.