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Results suggest the UK has toppled the US as the bankruptcy and reorganisation hub of choice

As explained by Herbert Smith Freehills’ Thomas Bethel, the drop in oil prices has significant consequences for the debt financing of independent upstream exploration and production companies

Non-performing loans are a serious obstacle to the region’s economic recovery. Freshfields’ Agnes Molnar analyses the local and cross-country initiatives that promise to find value in these bad assets

As 2015's debt markets heave into life, European high yield's ceaseless covenant war continues. The pushing and pulling over change of control provisions, restricted payment baskets and their ilk is detailed in our annual high yield special focus on page 51.

State issuers often include carve outs from their waiver of sovereign immunity. But Clifford Chance’s Robert Trefny explains it's not clear whether the law supports such protections

Mayer Brown’s Kevin Hawken, Carol Hitselberger and Jason Kravitt explain why the revised securitisation framework will affect EU and US banks differently

Sub-Saharan sovereigns’ dollar-bond borrowings have spiked. But with macroeconomic conditions worsening, what will stop the build-up of risks in the nascent market?

Takuya Sonoda In 2014, the Japanese Diet agreed to amend, in two stages, the Act against Unjustifiable Premiums and Misleading Representations. This was following a series of scandals in which the menus used at a number of famous hotels and restaurants in Japan were found to be misleading, listing ingredients not actually used in the dishes. First, the Act for Partial Amendment of the Act against Unjustifiable Premiums and Misleading Representations (Law 71 of 2014) was promulgated on June 6 2014 and came into force on December 1 2014. This amendment introduced the requirement that business operators take all necessary measures to ensure the accuracy of all representations made to customers, including the establishment of appropriate managerial systems. Prime Minister Abe, on November 14 2014, oversaw the publication of guidelines to this amendment, setting out the fundamental policies of the amendment and listing specific examples of measures that must be taken by business operators in Japan.

Oene Marseille Emir Nurmansyah Indonesia's Ministry of Transportation has issued an amendment to its previously issued regulation on airfare pricing. The amendment was issued on December 30 2014, and effectively places a non-waivable floor on domestic airfares. Airfares for international flights are not affected by the amendment and will continue to be governed by the rules of the International Air Transport Association.

Elias Neocleous On December 2 2014, the Cyprus finance minister and the American ambassador to Cyprus formally signed the inter-governmental agreement between Cyprus and the US under the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (Fatca). Fatca is an American tax measure enacted in 2010 to prevent and detect US tax evasion and improve taxpayer compliance by requiring foreign financial institutions (FFIs) to report information related to the ownership by US citizens of assets held overseas. A 30% withholding tax is imposed on transactions with overseas financial institutions and other entities that fall within the scope of Fatca unless the institution concerned has concluded an agreement with the US Internal Revenue Service defining its reporting obligations, or the institution's home country has concluded an inter-governmental agreement (IGA) covering the relevant matters. There are two main forms of IGA, known as Model 1 and Model 2. Under the Model 1 IGA, institutions subject to Fatca report information to their own tax authorities for onward transmission to the US authorities. Under Model 2, institutions provide information directly to the American authorities.