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New SEC rules on the regulation of technology will impact both trading venues and clearing agencies, but also the market makers that interact with them

Supasit Boonsanong Prisna Sungwanna There are at least 17 laws and policies in Thailand which prescribe ceilings on foreign ownership in various businesses. Two of broad importance are the Land Code regarding the ownership of land (ceiling of 49%), and the Foreign Business Operation Act (FBOA) regarding the ownership of 43 categories of businesses (ceiling less than 50%). There are exceptions under certain free trade agreements (US, Japan and Australia), the Investment Promotion Act, and discretionary business licences issued by the Department of Business Development under the FBOA.

The programme officially opened on November 17. But the exchanges involved are already contemplating the link’s evolution

Elias Neocleous The Memorandum of Understanding that Cyprus concluded with its international creditors in 2013 committed the government to introducing a so-called Foreclosure Law. This legislation seeks to amend the procedure for the forced sale of mortgaged property to allow for private auctions. The initial target date was the end of 2013, but the deadline was extended to require legislation to be enacted by mid-2014 and implemented by the end of the year. The existing system allowed recalcitrant debtors to delay the realisation of mortgaged property for years by means of strategic applications to the courts for orders to cancel auctions, by objecting to the reserve price set by the Land Registry or on a number of procedural grounds. This would mean that the average time taken to enforce a mortgage would be 10 years, and a determined debtor could extend the delay well beyond that.

Can the new breed of municipal bonds refinance local governments’ non-performing debts?

Luis Gabriel Morcillo Maria Camila Ordoñez To facilitate access of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to local capital markets, the Colombian Ministry of Finance enacted Decree 1019 of 2014 to alleviate registration burdens in the Colombian alternative equity and fixed income market (Alternative Market, or Segundo Mercado). This reform will allow smaller companies and not recurrent issuers to finance their operations through capital markets. This will offer attractive returns, as are usual from these type of issuers, to institutional investors (those authorised to invest in the Segundo Mercado). Through the reform, when the Superintendence of Finance has validated the registry requirements, its supervision powers are transferred to the issuer, its directors and to all its financial and legal advisors, in a such a way that all involved advisors will be liable for the entirety and completeness of the information disclosed in the offering documents. With this new procedure, registration periods are considerably reduced and it is in the best interest of SMEs to set up a diligent offering process and sufficient documentation to obtain an automatic registry before the National Registry of Securities and Issuers (RNVE) within a few days of filing to launch the offering.

Misconceptions about the risks and structuring possibilities involved in emerging market mezzanine are limiting investors' ability to tap lucrative opportunities they wouldn't otherwise be able to access.

The city’s use of Chapter 9 of the Bankruptcy Code made the deal similar to both a sovereign and corporate restructure

The last major regulatory reform under Basel III has been announced. But will the measures prevent another crisis?

Six months after becoming chief of the global OTC trade body, Scott O’Malia discusses his plans for the cross-border derivative market