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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:

As Russia's economic and financial crisis continues, there have been a number of important legislative and policy developments, including the following:

On July 1 1998 Commissione Nazionale per le Società e la Borsa (CONSOB) approved Resolution No. 11522 introducing new rules for intermediaries. The rules describe the procedure to be followed by an EU investment company to obtain authorization from the Italian authorities to offer in Italy services not admitted to mutual recognition.

The slump in issuance since October 1997 has affected all firms with Asian equities practices with the biggest offerings bringing more comfort to US rather than UK firms. Nick Ferguson reports

The Commission has proposed a Directive to establish a clear regulatory framework for the distance-selling of financial services within the single market.

Under the German Banking Act, banks and financial services institutions are obliged to have an appropriate amount of own funds to meet their obligations to their creditors. The various risks arising from their business must be recorded in their trading book and in their banking book, weighted and backed by own funds. The rules as to how this should be done were announced by the German Federal Banking Supervisory Office (BAKred) in October 1997 in its Changes and Supplements to the Principles Concerning the Capital and Liquidity of Institutions which, for the most part, came into effect on October 1 1998. The essential item is the new Principle I which regulates capital requirements for market risks (foreign currency risks, commodity risks and position risks from trading book transactions) and counterparty risks (credit risks).

The task force on the future of the Canadian financial services sector was established by the Canadian government in December 1996 to undertake a careful, independent and objective analysis of the broad trends affecting the Canadian financial services industry, and to provide advice on public policy issues to help the government develop a framework for the industry in the 21st century. The task force was comprised of an independent and diverse group of individuals under the chairmanship of lawyer Harold MacKay.