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Patricia A Solórzano On January 12 2015 Honduras enacted the Agreement with Government of the United States of America to Improve International Tax Compliance and to Implement FATCA (Agreement). On February 6 2015, the Guidelines for the implementation of the Agreement, issued by the National Banking and Insurance Commission (CNBS) became enforceable. Under the Agreement and Guidelines, for 2014, Honduran financial institutions must obtain and exchange from the US Reportable Accounts the following information: (i) name, address, and US taxpayer identification number (TIN) of each specified US person that is an account holder of such account; (ii) account number; (iii) name and identifying number of the reporting Honduran financial institution; and, (iv) average monthly account balance or value during the relevant calendar year.

Markus Bolsinger Wendy Pan Judah Frogel Penny Zacharias Mario Nigro April witnessed the continuing defection of talent from Pillsbury to WINSTON & STRAWN. Following the moves of 14 partners in March, Peter Morgan, who specialises in structured finance, private equity, and fund formation, made the move to Winston's New York office.

Banji Adenusi Bisola Olusoga As part of efforts aimed at bolstering investor confidence in the Nigerian capital market, the Nigerian Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recently released new rules on the operation of a National Investment Protection Fund (NIPF). The SEC released the rules in exercise of its powers under section 13(k) of the Investment and Securities Act (ISA) 2007, and they are geared towards providing a baseline guarantee for compensating investors whose losses are not covered by the Investment Protection Fund (IPF) of securities exchanges and capital trade points in the country. The NIPF provides a cover for investors who suffer losses on investments arising specifically from the bankruptcy, insolvency or negligence of capital market operators (CMO), in addition to defalcations of a CMO or its officers in relation to funds or assets in its custody. The fund is, however, only applicable to transactions regulated by the SEC, while an investor who colludes with a CMO in a wrongful act is disallowed from benefiting from it. In 2013, the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) set up an IPF for investors on the NSE, which provisions mirror those of the SEC in some respects.

Daniel Futej Cyril Hric In November 2014, the Slovak Parliament passed Act 371/2014 on resolving crisis situations on the financial market and on amending certain acts (Act). The Act transposes Directive 2014/59/EU (which establishes a framework for the recovery and resolution of credit institutions and investment firms) of the European Parliament and of the Council (BRRD) into Slovak law. The objective of implementing the BRRD is to introduce the new framework of prevention and resolution of potential crisis situations on the financial market, which was created at the EU level in response to the financial crisis. The financial crisis demonstrated the extensive scope and range of risks on the financial market, where the complexity of interconnection means that the failure of one financial institution may cause a systemic crisis that has the potential to affect the entire financial system. The priority of the Act is to implement the effective crisis management system created by the BRRD. According to the Act, the Resolution Council (Rada pre riešenie krízových situácií – the Council) was established on January 1 2015 as the national resolution authority in the Slovak Republic. The institutions that fall within the competence of the Council are credit institutions and investment companies with share capital of at least €730,000. The Council is part of the Single Resolution Mechanism (SRM), which comprises: (i) the Single Resolution Board, based in Brussels; (ii) the national resolution authorities of the euro area countries; (iii) the national resolution authorities of those other EU member states that have opted to participate in the SRM.

Chinese companies must wake up to the realities of operating in the US Chinese companies making acquisitions in the US should expect increased litigation risk, according to counsel in both countries. The best form of protection is distance between the parent and subsidiary. There's been a tangible increase in the number of Chinese firms purchasing US factories, plants and real estate in the country over recent years. In the past, litigating against a Chinese company was perceived as fruitless because it was difficult to collect on a ruling. But with those companies now holding more assets in the US, there are more opportunities for them to be seized.

Rodrigo de Campos Vieira Due to the historic lack of financing sources for hotel projects in Brazil, the market has sought out creative fundraising mechanisms to meet the substantial deficit of hotel rooms in Brazil. The most successful financing structure known to date, referred to as condo-hotels, involves the sale of autonomous units from real-estate development projects or as an ideal fraction of real estate. The former integrates a pool of hotels managed by a professional operator, to individuals or corporations. The proceeds of the real-estate development project are distributed to the owners of the condo-hotel units by the operator of the pool of hotels.

The India Export-Import Bank's green bond has become the first offshore offering of its type from the country. And its unusual use of proceeds could facilitate more deals.

US term loan B-style loans are spreading globally. Linklaters' Danelle Le Cren and Jeff Norton explain why before borrowers and lenders hop on board, they should consider the legal precedents in their local market

Selva Quintero On November 12 2014, the Supreme Court of Justice of Panama issued a ruling on constitutionality on a case between Compañía Agrícola Industrial (CAISA), a major Panamanian pork producer, and Royal Dutch Airlines (KLM). The ruling concerned the requirement that parties involved in legal proceedings adhere to the principles of due process, as guaranteed by the Panamanian Constitution. The Supreme Court's ruling confirmed a lower court's decision on a constitutional action, wherein KLM had requested that a prior decision ordering the Dutch airline to pay millions of dollars in compensation to CAISA be declared invalid on the basis that KLM's due process rights were violated. The alleged violation arose from the trial judge's failure to serve KLM in accordance with the proper legal procedure for notifying companies domiciled outside of Panama. It is important to note that, unlike jurisdictions such as the United States, in Panama the responsibility to serve the defendant rests with the court. In such cases where the defendant resides outside of the national territory, the law authorises service by means of letters of request.

Adrian Chair The Netting of Financial Agreements Act 2015 (Netting Act) came into force on March 30 2015, and clarifies that the netting provisions in a qualified financial agreement for qualified financial transactions are enforceable in accordance with the terms of the agreement. The Netting Act clarifies the long-standing uncertainty on the enforceability of close-out netting arising from laws construed by the market as non-netting friendly. These are: (i) sections 29A and 41 of the Pengurusan Danaharta Nasional Berhad Act 1998 (Danaharta Act) which provide that appointment of a special administrator should not give rise to a termination or acceleration right, and impose a 12-month moratorium during which set-off is restricted except with Danaharta's consent; and (ii) section 346C of the Capital Markets and Services Act 2007 (CMSA), empowering the Securities Commission to require any person to take measures the Commission considers necessary for managing systemic risk.