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Chinese incorporated companies began listing their shares (H-shares) on the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong (SEHK) in 1993. Some H-share companies failed adequately to comply with SEHK disclosure requirements. Stricter compliance was necessary. In 1995 a combination of stricter enforcement by the SEHK and better understanding of the requirements by H-share companies resulted in substantial improvement. To ensure continued compliance with disclosure requirements, the SEHK issued extra recommendations, which should be observed in addition to the uniform disclosure requirements for all SEHK-listed companies.

Under Swedish law, a parent company owning more than nine-tenths of the shares with more than nine-tenths of the votes in a subsidiary has the right to redeem the remaining shares from the minority shareholders. The value of a minority share in such a situation must in principle correspond to the value of a majority share. If the parent company has acquired the greater portion of the shares through an offer to an extended group of persons for certain consideration, then the redemption sum shall be equivalent to that consideration, unless there is a special reason otherwise.

The Bank of Italy has introduced changes to Chapter XII of its Regulations concerning the issue of bonds by Italian banks. These have the effect that the existing distinctions made between different types of issuing banks according to their capital base have been abolished. As a consequence, banks with a capital base of less than L50 billion (US$ 196 million) are now allowed to issue bonds with a denomination of at least L5 million provided that the issue has 'market characteristics'.

Publication of a draft Third Financial Markets Promotion Act (Drittes Finanzmarktförderungsgesetz) aimed at further enhancing the economic and legal framework for the operation of the German capital markets is now imminent. A number of the key changes to be introduced by the proposed Act are:

A question frequently raised both among members of the offshore community and the authorities in Cyprus is whether the existing favourable offshore tax regime will be affected in any way by the proposed accession to the EU.

Provisional Measure 1541 allowing the federal government to give financial support to state governments willing to privatize state banks or to liquidate or transform them into non-financing institutions was enacted on September 5 1996. The programme will be funded by a federal government bond issue, but the public debt is expected to fall after the privatization of state assets.

Austria enacted a major revision of corporate law on July 1. The aim of the EU Company Law Amendment Act is to complete the harmonization of Austrian corporate law with EU company law. The Act applies to all corporate entities, but some changes are of particular importance to the Austrian banking sector. They relate to a bank's acquisition of its own stock, reasons for the exclusion of certain auditors of banks, financial reporting of banks and creditors' protection in the case of mergers of financial institutions.

The following is a summary of recent developments:

The Bankruptcy (Désastre) (Jersey) Law, 1990 contains provisions on disqualifying directors of a company which has been declared 'en désastre' (bankrupt).

Swiss Re has agreed to purchase the Mercantile & General reisurance arm of the UK's Prudential Corporation for £1.75 billion. Swiss Re's bid has been accepted subject to regulatory approval.