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No sign of money-laundering activity was found in Cyprus's banking system during the recent investigation by a team of international banking specialists from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).

A consortium of firms, including Soros funds, Deutsche Morgan Grenfell, Renaissance Capital, Uneximbank and Morgan Stanley Asset Management successfully bid US$1.875 billion for a 25% stake in Svyazinvest, the Russian telecoms holding company.

Reforms to the Italian capital gains tax system will have significant implications for the capital markets and the repo and securities lending markets. By Susanna Beltramo and Marina Savastano of Studio Legale Beltramo, Rome

The latest no-action letters from the US SEC expand the exemptions available to unregistered dealers. By Charles S Gittleman, Julia E Moran and Eva Don-Siemion of Shearman & Sterling, New York

On June 25 1997, the US Supreme Court held in United States v O'Hagan, 117 S Ct 2199 (1997), that it is a violation of the US securities laws for corporate outsiders to trade in securities for personal profit using material, non-public information in breach of a fiduciary duty owed to the source of the information. The Court thus ratified the misappropriation theory of liability, which has been used in nearly half the insider trading cases brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in recent years.

At a weekend summit on September 13 and 14, EU finance ministers agreed that bilateral conversion rates for future members of the single currency would be announced next May. The declaration will coincide with the announcement of the founding members of economic and monetary union (Emu), and is intended to reduce the risk of currency speculation before the launch of the Euro.

What do these words mean in the context of a financial agreement? Financial lawyers are very familiar with this phrase because it is included in most loan participation agreements and syndicated loan agreements for the purpose of protecting the lead or agent bank.

In 1996 the Mexican government organized an entity called Valuación y Ventas de Activos SA (VVA) for the purpose of organizing a series of sales of loans made by Mexican banks. The aggregate amount of the loans is said to exceed US$42 billion. The loans are held by Fondo Bancario para la Protección de Activos (FOBAPROA), a trust administered by Banco de México, the central bank.

UK firm Linklaters & Paines overtakes US rival Davis Polk & Wardwell to head this year’s ranking of the leading advisers on international equity issues. But other firms are catching up. Richard Forster and Robert Dwyer report

US chemicals group DuPont is paying £1.8 billion (US$3 billion) for the titanium dioxide and polyester businesses of the UK's ICI. The deal is part of ICI's programme to fund its £4.9 billion acquisition of Unilever's speciality chemicals businesses.