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Over two months in, and the new rules are not having the impact they were initially expected to

It is far from difficult to argue that the London interbank offered rate (Libor) is in serious need of replacement. Since its inception in 1969, as a mechanism by which a group of London-based banks could agree a floating rate of interest on an $80 million loan for the central bank of Iran, it has evolved remarkably little. The same cannot be said of the market it underlies, which is now estimated to have a notional value of around $350 trillion. Whether one looks at the 2012 manipulation scandal, or the fact that markets for many of the funding rates Libor purports to measure barely exist anymore, it is impossible to escape the evidence that arguably the most important benchmark in the financial markets is no longer fit for purpose. A change is long overdue.

2017 was a record year for green bonds, as total value reached $155 billion, with a growing number of issuances coming from Asia. China contributed $36.4 billion to the total, just after the US and France. India however was only in ninth place in spite of very ambitious renewable energy targets. The majority of issuances came from banks, which were responsible for 74% of total issues.

Initial coin offerings (ICOs) or token sales as alternative financing methods continue to generate increasing interest – in Switzerland in particular. ICOs conducted out of Switzerland between January and October 2017 raised between $550 and $650 million, which represents approximately one quarter of the volume of ICOs worldwide (including four of the 10 biggest ICOs so far). In our view, despite certain legal and regulatory challenges, ICOs have to be considered a potentially attractive financing method, in particular for startups, as certain disadvantages of traditional financing methods may be avoided or mitigated.

The member state is looking to launch a so-called bad bank to tackle its pile of sour debt. But some obstacles lie ahead

It's one of the most contentions topics in the US financial regulation sector at the moment: the Senate's financial deregulation bill, which is set to unpick parts of the Dodd-Frank Act. When the Act was passed in 2010, it was hailed as the band aid with would help the financial sector heal and get its strength back.

Italy's election has made the EU's worst fears a reality. The election saw a stunning rejection of the EU and massive support for eurosceptic parties, including the far-right League that became the largest conservative party in Italy. Negotiations are ongoing to form a functioning government and several permutations could arise, but the most probable conclusion politically is a coalition involving the 5 Star Movement, the League and potentially Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia. League has strongly favoured exiting the EU and the euro previously, and taken a hardline stance against immigration, venturing into clear racism on occasions. Just after her election as mayor of Cascina, in Tuscany, Susanna Ceccardi posted a cartoon of a young woman dressed as a Viking kicking a dark-skinned pig dressed in a turban who dropped a Koran, with the words 'wake up Europe' underneath. Since the election campaign began, their stance on the EU has softened somewhat but they are likely to be a big obstacle in any plans to pull member states closer.

An amendment to the act on employment services slated to enter into force on May 1 2018 will have a substantial impact on the employment of third country nationals.

The Philippine government is aggressively advancing the acceleration of infrastructure and development of industries that will yield robust growth across the Philippines. Infrastructure projects are among the top priorities of the government with public spending on infrastructure projects targeted to reach between PHP8 trillion and PHP9 trillion ($154 billion to $173 billion) between 2017 and 2022.

Although full implementation of the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive II (Mifid II) in Portugal is expected to occur very soon, the truth is that market players already hold sufficient tools and comply with enough EU regulations to assess internal policies and procedures to make them compliant with the Mifid II requirements.