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BAT Industries is undergoing a £30 billion reconstruction involving the merger of its financial services arm with Zurich Insurance Group. BAT's tobacco business British American Tobacco plc will be listed separately in London and the merged financial services group will be held by a Swiss-registered operating company. BAT shareholders will own 45% of this company through a UK-listed holding company, Allied Zurich, and Zurich shareholders will own 55% through a Swiss-listed holding company.

The former UK Association of Compliance Officers has been re-launched in London as the Compliance Institute six days before the new super-regulator is unveiled by UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown. The Institute has been set up to provide a formal qualification and training package for compliance staff. "Although new legislation and the work of regulatory bodies have helped, financial misconduct and the breach of financial regulations remain rife," says Clive Warburton, president of the Institute. "The Compliance Institute's main purpose is to advance the standards of competence among compliance staff and ultimately to elevate the compliance ethos within regulated businesses."

Measures introduced by securities regulators in Argentina will make it easier for foreign issuers to access the country’s emerging capital market. By Rodolfo Gerardo Papa of Cárdenas, Cassagne & Asociados, Buenos Aires

Setting up a representative office is the first and indispensable step towards establishing a banking presence in China. Philip Gilligan and Steven Blayney of White & Case, Hong Kong, explain how

The new US tax regulations will have mixed effects for US companies engaged in project finance. Keith Martin of Chadbourne & Parke, Washington DC, looks at the good and the bad news

The success of the first Europe-wide electronic securities market owes much to the new possibilities afforded by EU investment services legislation. By Dirk Tirez, general counsel of Easdaq, Brussels

The German government has launched a three-pronged initiative aimed at overhauling Germany’s antitrust law and making it Euro-compatible. By Wolfgang von Meibom and Jan Byok of Wessing Berenberg-Gossler Zimmermann Lange, Düsseldorf

For the first time, the decision of a regulator relating to modifications of a utility's licence has been successfully challenged on the basis that the regulator acted irrationally.

The Russian government has enacted ambitious new legislation designed to strengthen the enforcement of judicial orders. The new rules are to apply to orders issued by all Russian general courts, the Constitutional Court, the Supreme Court, the High Arbitration Court, all arbitration courts and foreign courts, as well as orders of certain other government bodies. At present, Russia's Civil Procedural Code, and the procedural rules of the various court systems, govern enforcement procedures, including the conversion and seizure of property to satisfy court judgments. In the emerging Russian market economy, identifying, seizing, and converting assets under a court order is often tedious, time-consuming and expensive. Results vary widely. Officials themselves concede that enforcement practices are weak. The new legislation seeks to address these problems by enforcing compliance with court orders and government decisions and clamping down on delinquent debtors.

If credit derivatives are found to be contracts of insurance, in many jurisdictions they will face strict regulation. David Benton, Patrick Devine and Philip Jarvis of Allen & Overy, London, explain how this interpretation can be avoided