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The Financial Transactions Reporting Act 1996 seeks to combat money-laundering through financial institutions in New Zealand. The Act imposes various obligations on 'financial institutions' (defined widely), including the obligation to report suspicious transactions to the police.

In April 1997, the Response of the Securities and Futures Commission to the Public Consultation on the Review of the Leveraged Foreign Exchange Trading Regulatory System (the Response) to the Consultation Paper on the Review of the Leveraged Foreign Exchange Trading Regulatory System (the Consultation Paper) was released by the Securities and Futures Commission (the SFC).

China promulgated the PRC Anti-dumping and Anti-subsidy Regulations on March 25 1997. The Regulations aim to maintain fair competition in foreign trade and protect the relevant Chinese domestic industries in the event dumped and subsidized 'imported products' cause substantial damage to the established domestic industries, pose a substantial threat of damage, or create substantial obstacles to the establishment of domestic industries.

• UK firm Clifford Chance has appointed 22 partners. Fifteen are in the London office. They are: in finance, David Bickerton, David Eatough, Hilary Evenett, Rachel Kelly, Geeta Khehar, Robert Lee, Gavin Teague and Russell Wells; in property, Andrew Forryan; in corporate, Mark Poulton and David Pudge; in contentious, Rob Lambert and Rae Lindsay; in tax, Michael Wistow, and in tax, pensions and employment, Bruce Hedley. The Hong Kong office has gained three partners: Paul Kruger and Robert Trefney (finance) and Philip Rapp (China). Simon Clinton and Thierry Schoen become corporate partners in Singapore and Paris respectively. Juan Jose Lavilla becomes an administrative law partner in Madrid. Mark Huddlestone has been made finance partner in Amsterdam.

Despite the growing economy, Finland’s lawyers find there is not enough work to go round. Firms are being forced to refocus and reassess their business. Clare Hepburn reports

UK firm Lovell White Durrant is to open for business in Russia. In charge of setting up a Moscow office is partner Christopher Smith, head of Lovell's Central and Eastern European practice and of the Prague office. Smith previously set up the firm's Beijing office and will be dividing his time between Moscow and Prague. Resident head of the office will be Daniel Gogek, an associate who moves from Freshfields' Moscow office. He was previously at White & Case and Coudert Brothers. Freshfields partner Christian Salbang worked closely with him and says: "The last we knew was that he had decided to leave the law and go back to Canada to work in business, so it is rather a surprise. But he is a competent fellow with a lot of experience and I hope he finds at Lovell what he wasn't able to find at Freshfields."

US firm Chadbourne & Parke has installed recently-acquired project finance partner Ian Johnson as head of a new office in Singapore. Joining him there is senior associate Bruce Rader, who moves to Singapore from New York. The office opened on April 14, and will focus on project finance, capital markets and cross-border transactions. It aims to strengthen the firm's Asian presence and complement the Hong Kong office.

Allen & Overy's Warsaw office will be joined by two partners and seven Polish associates from May 1 after UK firm Nabarro Nathanson agreed to close its office and transfer the staff and clients to Allen & Overy. English resident partner Michael Davies, who set up the Nabarro Nathanson office in 1991, joins Allen & Overy as a partner in Warsaw with Polish lawyer Tomasz Dobrowolski. Nabarro's senior partner David Bramson says the move followed a review of strategy. "We have terrific people there but we wanted them to find a safe haven because to make the Warsaw office fly we would have had to put in at least £1 million," he comments.

Coudert Brothers has added four project finance partners from the Washington office of McDermott, Will & Emery. Partners Charles Friedlander, George Knapp, Roger Stark and Roger Wagner have practised together since 1985. They joined Coudert's 75-lawyer International Finance Practice Group on March 19 1997. Knapp highlights the international reach of Coudert as the reason for the decision to leave McDermott. "Coudert is one of the only US firms, perhaps the only US firm, with a truly global presence. Coudert covers every region where our clients plan to be."

The new Argentine financial instrument available from the middle of this month offers smaller companies a way to cut the credit risk burden. By Rodolfo Gerardo Papa of Cardenas, Cassagne & Asociados, Buenos Aires