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The lighter side of the past month in the world of financial law

Investors are demanding safer structures now Singapore securitisation might be slowly making a comeback. But deals are far more conservative than those seen in previous years. The securitisation market in Asia has been slow to take off since the global financial crisis. Although Singapore commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) weren't heavily affected during the crisis, investors were sceptical of the product's safety following incidents in the US.

Does the transatlantic OTC derivatives debate need a new direction?

Indonesia has shot itself in the foot with yet another surprise regulatory change. Those looking to tap into its enormous consumer market have touted the country as one of the next big investment opportunities, including it in the next wave of emerging markets acronyms (such as MIST, which also includes Mexico, South Korea, and Turkey).

The growing prominence of European unitranche debt has led to some interesting intercreditor issues

Assad Abdullatiff Mauritius has, over the last two decades, forged a strong reputation as a premier international financial centre. The combination of fiscal and non-fiscal advantages together with the diverse product-base has been the key ingredient of the Mauritius success story. Although Mauritius is better known as a gateway for the structuring of investments into India and increasingly Africa, it is also being used by professional advisers and their high net worth clients as a jurisdiction of choice for private wealth management services. The enactment of the Foundations Act in 2012 has widened the choice of structures available to wealth management specialists. Traditionally, trusts have been the preferred planning tool in the context of wealth management planning for high net worth families. Mauritius law allows for the setting up of various types of trusts – fixed, discretionary, protective, purpose, spendthrift, Sharia-compliant and charitable trusts. A number of high net worth individuals (HNWI) and ultra-high net worth individuals (UHNWI) already use a Mauritius trust for estate, succession planning and family office services.

Anna Pinedo Basel implementation in the United States continues to progress, as shown by the recent release of a proposed rule on the application of the liquidity coverage ratio, or LCR. The proposed LCR is largely consistent with the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision's LCR standard, but tougher. The proposed rule would apply to internationally-active banking organisations with $250 billion or more in total consolidated assets, or $10 billion or more in on-balance sheet foreign exposure, as well as designated non-bank systemically important financial institutions that do not have substantial insurance operations. A less stringent version, termed LCR lite, would apply to smaller depository institutions. As under the Basel rule, covered companies would be required to hold high-quality liquid assets (HQLA) of at least 100% of the company's total net cash outflows over a prospective 30 calendar-day period. However, the types of assets that qualify as HQLA for US banks are more limited than those considered qualifying for European banks. Under the proposed rule, the measure of the rate of cash outflow is also more punitive, as it is based on the bank's largest net cumulative cash outflow day within a 30-day liquidity stress, as opposed to the more moderate Basel version of this calculation. US banks would have a shorter transition period than that contemplated by Basel. Covered US banks would be required to maintain an LCR of 80% as of January 1 2015, with step-ups until January 1 2017 when the LCR will be fully implemented.

Personnel leasing, which allows for the hire of employees from another employer or temporary employment agency, has become established in Slovakia. A temporary employment agency enters into an employment contract with an employee, and with an employer seeking temporary workers; it then sends the requested type of worker to the temporary employer. The agency handles payroll and any legal issues concerning the temporary employee (dismissal, for example). The temporary employers save money on payroll administration, severance pay when production is down, and they are also saved the hassle of the hiring process. Of course, the temporary employer must guarantee non-discrimination, and the working conditions (including wages) must be at least as good as with a comparable permanent employee working for the temporary employer. Such is personnel leasing.

Credit Suisse’s planned overhaul of its legal structure was not motivated by a desire to safeguard its Swiss operations, the bank’s vice chairman of the group executive office has said

The use of high-yield bonds to fund non-controlling buyouts is tipped to be a key development for the M&A market in 2014. The structure could be transformative for deals in Asia