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In 2014 the Irish parliament passed the Merchant Shipping (Registration of Ships) Act 2014 (the Act) to update the regime for the registration of Irish ships and the regime for registering mortgages over ships. It is intended that the new regime will provide a more efficient, user friendly and accessible regime for commercial ship owners and those involved in financing the construction and purchase of vessels. Among other things the Act provides for the establishment of an electronic ship ownership and mortgage register. It preserves all of the basic protections under the existing regime for banks which have a mortgage over commercial ships. With the exception of one provision, however, the Act has not yet been commenced. Given the potential for the further development of shipping finance in Ireland, it is hoped that the government will soon implement it.

Initial coin offerings are giving regulators a headache because they don’t play by traditional rules. How should they be approached?

There has been a continuing shift in the Philippine intellectual property (IP) landscape, beginning with the passage of the Intellectual Property Code (IP Code) in 1997. Coming into effect in 1998, the IP Code resulted in the harmonisation of Philippine IP laws with international standards. In 2014, due to the strengthening of IP enforcement activities, the Philippines was removed from the USTR Special 301 Report, a yearly report released by the US which assesses the level of IP rights protection and enforcement provided by countries with which it has commercial activity. The fact that the Philippines has remained outside the watch list for four years now proves its commitment to sustaining its intellectual property reform. Now, the government's objective is to develop IP as a catalyst for economic development.

In August 2017, the Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources introduced a new regulation which revoked its previous controversial (and short-lived) regulation which had required that the ministry's approval be obtained by sponsors of independent power producers (IPP) before executing any share transfer or change of the IPP's board of directors or commissioners.

PRC regulators have recently outlawed all token financing activity. But the rationale and legal basis behind the decision remain unclear

The US Federal Reserve has aligned its latest rules for a number of G-Sibs’ contractual requirements to the resolution regimes applicable to these entities

IFLR talks to Therium co-founder and director Neil Purslow about the rise of third party litigation financing in the financial sector, and how the market is expected to evolve in the next few years

The Slovak Commercial Code is set for sweeping changes, most of which, if signed by the president, will come into force in January 2018.

The Diet passed the Housing Rental Business Act (an official translation is yet to be determined) on June 9 2017. The Act, which will take effect in June 2018, defines and regulates vacation rental businesses such as Airbnb.

On August 30 2017, the Brazilian Central Bank released Public Consultation 55/2017, which proposes the regulation of certain types of credit transactions carried out exclusively via electronic lending platforms. The proposed regulation fits in with the trend for the Brazilian authorities to stimulate financial inclusion through the regulation of mobile payment tools, credit unions and equity crowdfunding. It also follows the regulatory template of other markets such as the UK – a regulatory sandbox safe house, where rules become more stringent as the entity grows.