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On January 1 2017, the Swiss domestic legislation on the Automatic Exchange of Information (AEOI) entered into force and the Swiss Federal Tax Administration (SFTA) published guidelines specifying the crucial aspects of the legislation for practical use. Under the AEOI, Swiss financial institutions (FI) will collect and exchange relevant financial information on 'reported persons' with Switzerland's partner states. By the same token, Switzerland will receive data collected on Swiss resident reported persons from Switzerland's partner states. The exchanged information will be used for domestic taxation purposes in the state of residence of the reported persons.

Dennis M Kelleher, president and CEO, Better Markets and Peter J Wallison, senior fellow, American Enterprise Institute share their views on how the landmark legislation has impacted the financial services sector

A new competition law is scheduled to be enacted in 2018 and take effect in 2019. Currently, legislators are collecting public opinions on the second draft of this legislation, one of the hot topics currently being discussed by legal practitioners. One of the most important points to consider is that unlike the current regulations which do not clearly govern foreign entities, the draft law expressly provides that foreign entities and anti-competitive activities, including economic concentrations (ECs) which are performed outside of Vietnam but would cause a restriction of competition in Vietnam market, shall be subject to this legislation. Therefore, M&A deals between offshore entities in relation to indirect equity interests in a Vietnam-based entity will come under the oversight of the Vietnamese competition authorities.

Dieter Grünblatt, Stefan Kramer and Benedikt Maurenbrecher of Homburger explore structuring options for international and domestic covered bonds involving a Swiss issuer

It's been a few months of ups and downs for the global financial markets. Brexit and Donald Trump, as well as other government elections and reshuffles in a number of jurisdictions have all played a role in upsetting the stability of the markets.

Chinese capital markets are heating up A combination of a depreciated Chinese currency and crackdown on speculation on real estate has, among other things, pushed Chinese companies to tap the international high yield bond market. But, when IFLR reported in late April on the influx of PRC issuers – a growing number of whom are local government-owned entities based in third or fourth-tier cities – issuing high yield dollar paper offshore, the country's regulators had not publicly responded to potential default concerns. Only the Shenzhen branch of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) was reported to have required corporates based in Shenzhen raising mid-to-long-term offshore dollar debt to submit credit ratings reports issued by Moody's, S&P or Fitch as supplementary documentary evidence.

Back to basics Europe’s first insurance premium loan securitisation

No rest for the EU financial markets this summer

Björn-Axel Dißars David Young A team of six lawyers left Osborne Clarke's German practice to launch a Cologne-based boutique specialising in procurement law, ESCH BAHNER LISCH. The team included partners Oliver Esch and Karsten Lisch, and counsel Hanna Bahner.

Catherine Young Hagerty Bruce Hoffman In the latest transatlantic combination, WOMBLE CARLYLE SANDRIDGE & RICE has merged with UK strategic partner BOND DICKINSON creating a firm with £340 million in combined revenues. The new firm, Womble Bond Dickinson, will go live on October 1 with 1,000 lawyers, 420 partners, 15 US offices and eight UK offices.