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After months of speculation and indecision, China's State Council finally gave on July 18 its official backing for the planned revival of the debt-to-equity swap initiative which was last used in 1999. This was followed by a new document issued by the Council on August 22 urging non-financial enterprises, such as suppliers, to swap their accounts receivable for equity in their indebted clients.

The first project to make use of the European Investment Bank's (EIB) new credit enhancement tool is expected to pave the way for future deals.

Doo-Soon Choi In Australia, WHITE & CASE opened two new offices in Melbourne and Sydney after raiding Herbert Smith Freehills for an eight-partner team. This includes Asia-based finance head Brendan Quinn, regulatory partner Tim Power, projects partners Andrew Clark, Joanne Draper, Jared Muller, Alan Rosengarten, Josh Sgro and Joel Rennie. Elsewhere independent GILBERT + TOBIN hired partner Justin Mannolini in Perth. He is a former Macquarie Capital investment banker.

Credit enhancement initiatives are restoring investor confidence, and helping boost infrastructure projects

China witnessed last month its first default on asset-backed securities (ABS) but is pushing ahead with its large-scale non-performing loan (NPL) securitisation programme.

James Sattin While this summer's grand inauguration of the expanded Panama Canal has rightfully taken centre stage in the conversation on Panama's role in facilitating international trade, other more subtle efforts by the government are also beginning to produce noteworthy results. In particular, in April Panama's legislature passed Law 8 of 2016, which, among other things, restructured the Colon Free Zone. This is a long-standing international free trade zone located in the city of Colon on the Atlantic side of the Panama Canal. Law 8 replaced the 68 year-old Law 18 of 1948, which was understandably in need of modernisation.

Russel Rodriguez John Christian Joy Regalado The Financial Rehabilitation and Insolvency Act of 2010 (FRIA) provides more transparent, effective and efficient dealings between creditors and financially-struggling debtors. According to FRIA, a debtor or creditor may initiate rehabilitation proceedings to restore an insolvent debtor to solvency when (1) this is economically feasible, and (2) the projected recovery under the rehabilitation plan would be greater if the debtor was allowed to continue its business than if it was constrained to cease operations and liquidate its assets.

Radka Sláviková Geržová Martin Ilavský The new Code of Civil Contentious Procedure entered into force on July 1 2016. It aims to speed up the litigation process. Previously, cases would often drag on for several years because the parties to the dispute had submitted their allegations and offered evidence to the court in small bits at a time. This may have been for tactical reasons, or because the facts and evidence did not arise all at once.

The risk of public defaults is on the rise, boosted by persistently low interest rates and a distinct lack of fiscal policy. However, the preventative measures and restructuring tools that have been used historically need to improve to avoid disaster

John Breslin The Credit Reporting Act 2013 (the 2013 Act) will establish, for the first time in Ireland, a central credit register operating on a statutory basis. The register will be administered by the Central Bank of Ireland (the CBI). The register will replace the Irish Credit Bureau – a scheme currently operated by banks but which has no statutory basis. The new register will establish a mandatory reporting system. The CBI will use it to collect statistical information about consumer and business credit in Ireland. Establishing the register was one of the requirements of the so-called Troika (the International Monetary Fund, the European Central Bank and the European Commission) when Ireland's bail-out programme began in 2010.