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Paris-based Salans Hertzfeld & Heilbronn is to merge with London's Harris Rosenblatt & Kramer. The new firm will practise in London under the name Salans Hertzfeld & Heilbronn HRK. Harris Rosenblatt should be a good fit with Salans Hertzfeld; both firms are active in financing and litigation and the UK firm's English law capacity will enhance the new firm's cross-border financing skills. "In London we focused on international finance work, but had no domestic practice," says George Macdonald, a Salans Hertzfeld partner in London. "Harris Rosenblatt's practice is complementary and its skills are transferable into the international market."

With the remaining barriers between cantons being dismantled and clients demanding specialist expertise, the traditional divisions within the Swiss market are disappearing. Paul Lee reports

With the enactment of the Pension Law (No. 1,732) of November 29 1996, the pension and social security systems in Bolivia have been reformed and a Pensions Superintendency created to oversee their implementation.

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