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US firm Shaw Pittman Potts & Trowbridge has opened a London office. The office plans to take advantage of a gap it has identified in the London market for specialist advice in the negotiation and structuring of technology transactions and outsourcing. The firm, which already has 100 attorneys in the US practising technology, decided to expand its practice into Europe to meet the needs of its existing UK and US clients and to attract new clients. Paul Mickey, managing partner of Shaw Pittman, explains: "London is the centre for financial transactions in Europe. The types of institutions with technology needs are clustered here."

Investors in Barings, the collapsed merchant bank, face further litigation after liquidators blew cold on the City Disputes Panel's (CDP) compensation plan. The City's arbitration service put together the package during three years of negotiations after rogue trader Nick Leeson lost $800million gambling on the Hong Kong and Osaka stock markets, forcing the bank to fold. The panel's package sought to compensate holders of Barings' $150 million floating rate notes, issued in 1986. The agreed package offered $85 million, put up by ING, the former directors of Barings and its former auditors Coopers & Lybrand and Deloitte & Touche. ING bought Baring for £1 in 1995. The majority of the '86 noteholders are so-called vulture funds, specialist traders of distressed debt, who have bought up the bonds with the hope of increasing the compensation award.

Since introducing its specialist debt listing facility, the Cayman Islands has dealt with over 120 applications. Anne Nealon of the Cayman Island Stock Exchange explains the listing rules for structured bonds

Resisting the pressure to devalue the renminbi, the central bank and State Administration of Foreign Exchange have taken steps to prevent damage to China’s foreign exchange system. By Thomas E Jones of Freshfields, Hong Kong

On October 21 1998, the ministry of finance adopted a new regulation on the valuation of receivables, investments and contingency liabilities as well as of the contractual guarantees of credit institutions. Until then, these issues had been regulated through instructions by the banking supervisory authority which ceased to exist in 1997 and was replaced by the Money and Capital Market Supervisory Authority. These instructions have now been overruled by the new regulation entering into force on November 5 1998.

Securitization of assets other than mortgages is now possible in Spain. Iñigo Gómez-Jordana and Ana Gómez of Clifford Chance, Madrid review the new regulations

IFLR asked practitioners in Hong Kong, Singapore and Australia how financial authorities are reacting to the Millennium bug and what steps banks should take to achieve compliance

On October 28, the Commission adopted a communication entitled "Financial Services: Building a Framework for Action". The aim of the communication is to give the EU financial markets the possibility to support competition and resist financial instability. The strategy put forward to achieve this aim is to establish a capital market that meets the needs of issuers and investors, abolishing the barriers to cross-border provision of financial services such as mortgage loans, insurance and retirement services, with the view to offering the consumer a larger choice, and to guarantee higher levels of protection. The EU's financial services sector already accounts for some 6% of the EU's GNP, and it offers essential financial products to both industry, notably investment capital, and individual consumers, such as mortgages, pensions and insurance. It also accounts for 2.45% of EU employment and there is considerable potential for job creation in the sector. The communication highlights four areas of the sector in which action is required:

In October 1990, the defendant telephoned the plaintiff, convincing him to invest in futures options. After the plaintiff had signed an investment contract, the defendant began to trade in put and call options for the plaintiff, charging $300 in commission for each transaction. This led to remarkably high commissions. As the plaintiff's two accounts began to depreciate steadily, he ordered the defendant to close them. Subsequently, he sued the defendant claiming all his money back.

Recent developments in Spanish company law will favour access by Spanish companies to new financial mechanisms. One of these developments relates to the possibility for Spanish companies — previously not recognized by law — to issue redeemable shares (acciones rescatables), as an instrument through which the company may obtain additional funds for a limited time. This type of share represents an intermediate between fixed-income and variable-income securities. The main features of this new regime are as follows: