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The Allen Committee’s Final Report strikes a blow for greater transparency and accountability in corporate governance in Canada. By Thomas Allen and Andrew Fleming of Ogilvy Renault, Toronto and London

Recently approved measures allow the separation of principal and coupons of certain issues of Spanish government debt, as well as their subsequent reunification. These measures provide greater liquidity for the government debt market, as well as increasing the supply of this type of securities, allowing each investor to better tailor his or her investment portfolio to his or her needs in terms of principal, maturity and yield. Both individuals and corporate bodies can own these separated securities.

The Singapore Mediation Centre was opened by the Singapore Academy of Law on August 16 1997 to provide a full range of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) services, in particular private, non-court based mediation, as an alternative to litigation. At the launch, the Chief Justice said that "for businesses, litigation undermines their competitiveness by eating up management time and damaging business goodwill and reputation". Echoing the government's strong commitment to mediation, the Attorney-General's Chambers have recommended that future government contracts should carry a clause on the referral of disputes for mediation when appropriate.

The financing of projects in China is slowly but surely being made more attractive to international investors. Edward Lam of Shearman & Sterling, London, looks at the most recent measures

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).

UK firm Linklaters & Paines is set to open its first South American office with a representative office in São Paulo. The firm has done a large amount of debt work out of Brazil but the intention is to target the potential for private sector equity work. "During the next five years we are going to see a lot of equity stuff coming out of South America so putting a team down in Brazil will put us in a very good position," says Nick Eastwell, a partner with Linklaters in London who specializes in emerging market securities.

Fasken Martineau, London and Toronto

McDonald & Hayden, Toronto

Bennett Jones Verchere, Calgary

In line with the recently published recommendations on the Private Finance Initiative (PFI), the UK government is to set up a Treasury Taskforce to help get projects off the ground. By Nicholas Bliss of Freshfields, London