The Canadian Government's proposed budget for 2009 contains a number of new and expanded initiatives which, if it is approved by parliament, will help to address the financial crisis. The most important initiatives are summarised here. Read more.

Benefit pension plans must be fully funded over time meaning that deficits in plan valuations must be paid off. In the current crisis, many companies may be in this situation and facing onerous payments to amortise their pension funding deficiencies. The Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act has been amended to take account of this issue, and jurisdictions in Canada are looking at various other ways to alleviate the situation. Read more.

The German Financial Market Stabilisation Act was passed in October to shore up the financial markets and stem the tide of the crisis. Problems are ongoing though and discussions have been under way since mid-January as to what more can be done, ranging from simply amending the Act to the paradigm change of adopting the "bad bank" concept. Read more.

EU Commission approves German measures to deal with the financial crisis and issues a communication supporting measures to recapitalise banks, increase liquidity, encourage banks to start lending again and generally boost the economy. Read more.

The German legislator passed the Financial Market Stabilisation Act in response to the financial crisis. The Act provides for a fund to assist financial institutions and boost liquidity, further measures to compliment the fund and ensure its effectiveness, and temporary amendments to German banking, insurance and insolvency laws. Read more.

The government has amended various laws, including the Civil Code, Pledge Law and Mortgage Law, to streamline procedures for enforcing pledges and mortgages. The new rules provide improved procedures for out-of-court realisation of the secured property. Read more.

The Law on the Central Bank has been amended further to extend the time period during which it can grant unsecured loans to eligible credit organisations. It has also been given powers to monitor credit organisations who have received state aid under certain other recently adopted measures. Read more.

A new law has been passed to allow the Bank for Development and Foreign Trade (VEB) to help eligible borrowers discharge their debt obligations to foreign entities for a period of time. The new law also temporarily allows the Central Bank to compensate, in certain circumstances, credit organisations for losses made on the interbank credit market. Read more.

The Law on the Central Bank was amended in October to allow it to grant unsecured loans for up to six months to credit organisations that meet certain criteria. Read more.

A new law has been passed setting up a legal framework containing a range of measures to prevent the bankruptcy of certain Russian banks. The Deposit Insurance Agency and the Central Bank are responsible for administering the different measures. Read more.

Laws governing mortgages have been amended to streamline the legal framework for the turnover of mortgage deeds. In particular, the amended laws introduce depositary registration for rights to mortgage deeds and transactions with them. Read more.

The Association of British Insurers (ABI) changes its guidelines concerning directors' powers to allot share capital and to disapply pre-emption rights. The new guidelines are expected to speed up the rights issue process and lead to a series of new capital raisings. Read more.

FSA fines Aon GBP5.25 million for breach of its Principles for Businesses. The fine was for inadequate systems and controls to prevent corrupt activity connected to the promotion of Aon's business in high risk jurisdictions. Aon's fine may serve to warn other organisations that if such breaches occur, the regulator may presume that their compliance measures are inadequate, as well as to advise them of the standards it expects for such measures. Read more.

FSA publishes consultation paper on strengthening liquidity standards. The proposals, if adopted, impose tough new standards and would be a significant burden for financial institutions subject to the regime, which would have to carry out annual individual liquidity adequacy assessments. Read more.

Because of the economic downturn, many share options granted by companies to their employees may now cost more to exercise than the shares are in fact worth (that is, they are "underwater"). Companies have a number of options to address this problem. Read more.

UK Government publishes draft provisions on the Taxation of the Foreign Profits of Companies. The draft provisions contain details of the proposed worldwide debt cap, which places an upper limit on the amount that UK companies can obtain tax relief for group financing expenses. Because of the way the limit is calculated, it will generally favour groups with higher external borrowing costs. Read more.

Debt issued under the Temporary Liquidity Guarantee Program (TLGP) is guaranteed by the FDIC and does not need to be registered with the SEC under an effective registration statement. Offerings of such debt in Europe, however, will still be subject to the Prospectus Directive, raising potential difficulties for issuers. Read more.

US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit refuses jurisdiction over securities fraud class action, brought by foreign investors against a foreign company under the anti-fraud provisions of US securities laws, because the conduct at the centre of the alleged fraud did not take place in the US. The case could be a significant victory for foreign defendants and it is anticipated that it is likely to be followed by other federal courts. Read more.

Executive compensation programmes of financial institutions participating in the US Treasury Department's Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP) must exclude incentives for senior executives to take "unnecessary and excessive risks" that threaten the value of the institution. There are a number of actions that companies should consider taking to achieve this. Read more.

Short selling is back in the US after its temporary ban - but with strict new disclosure and reporting requirements. Further legislation is also possible with moves to bring back the previously long established, but relatively recently repealed, "uptick rule". This prevented the short selling of stocks below a certain value. The move is thought likely to fare better under the new Obama administration. Read more.

Lehman Brothers Inc. (LBI), like most insolvent broker-dealers, liquidated under SIPA, catching out many of the counterparties to its financial contracts. These are not subject to the general stay under SIPA, but the SIPC can temporarily prohibit foreclosure on such financial contracts and their associated collateral. A 21-day prohibition was ordered in the LBI proceeding, leaving many counterparties, in a period of extreme volatility, exposed to market risk for that time. The SIPC will usually lift this temporary prohibition for an applicant though, if it submits a "good faith affidavit" during the restricted period. Read more.