Australia's Personal Property Securities Act 2009 is due to come into force in May 2011. The Act establishes a national law governing security interests in personal property. In the last two editions of the PLC Global Finance e-mail, we have been reviewing the major issues flowing from the Act and this month, we have prepared a top ten (plus one) list of its practical implications. Read more.

A single, national consumer law has been passed by the Australian Parliament to provide stronger protection to Australian consumers: the Trade Practices Amendment (Australian Consumer Law) Act 2010. This article looks at some of the provisions of the new Act and provides guidance on steps businesses should take to prepare for its coming into force. Read more.

The Australian Federal Government established the Australian Financial Centre Forum in September 2008. Its aim was to investigate initiatives to position Australia as a leading regional financial services centre. The Forum's report (Johnston Report), released on 15 January 2010, delivered 19 policy recommendations (outlined here). The recommendations aim at long-term structural development to move the financial sector to better outward engagement, particularly encouraging more cross-border financial transactions and closer integration with the Asia Pacific region. The extent to which the recommendations will be implemented is expected to be clarified later in 2010 following a review by the Federal Government in the context of the 'Australia's future tax system review' (Henry Review) (released on 2 May 2010). Read more.

The emergence of green shoots in the Australian project finance market may signal better and more stable times ahead, but Australia's infrastructure needs mean the pressure remains on governments to use private finance investment to develop major projects. Decades of under-investment has created significant infrastructure shortfalls in Australia and, in response to this, the Henry Review, which released its recommendations on the Australian tax system on 2 May 2010, has proposed an infrastructure fund financed from a controversial resources super profits tax (to be 40% of profits generated from non-renewable resources). The infrastructure fund is to commence in 2012-13 with an initial payment for infrastructure of AUD700 million, with an estimated AUD5.6 billion to be funded over ten years. This article explores various ways that the fund might be used as well as other options available to meet Australia's infrastructure funding needs. Read more.

Click here for the full text of this month's Australia updates.

On 18 May 2010, the German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) issued general decrees prohibiting the naked short selling of certain debt securities issued by a country whose currency is the euro (Euro Countries), credit default swaps on debt of Euro Countries which are not entered into for hedging purposes, and shares of certain companies from the financial sector. The decrees (outlined in more detail here) became effective as of 19 May 2010 and will remain in force until 31 March 2011. Read more.

The German federal cabinet intends to introduce a bank stabilisation fund funded by all banks and to implement reorganisation procedures allowing for liquidation of banks of systemic importance without putting the financial markets at risk. Read more.

For the first time in Germany the regional court in Cologne held a court hearing in English on 10 May 2010. This hearing was flanked by a draft law of the German Federal Council providing for the choice of English as a language to be used in court proceedings dated 7 May 2010. Read more.

Click here for the full text of this month's Germany updates.

As use of digital money on the internet (net money) continues to grow in Japan, the risks of its use for criminal purposes as well as the potential dangers of net money dealers being unregulated have increased. The Financial Services Agency of Japan has therefore announced plans to establish regulations for net money to protect users and to prevent money laundering. Read more.

The Central Bank has decreased the refinancing rate from 8.25% to 8%. The new rate applies as of 30 April 2010. Read more.

On 2 April 2010, the Central Bank issued Instruction No. 135-I "On the Procedure for the Adoption by the Bank of Russia of Decisions on the State Registration of Credit Organisations and on the Issuance of Banking Licences." The Instruction entered into force on 11 May 2010 and, among other things, introduces a number of exemptions from the rule requiring that in certain cases where a credit organisation's charter capital is increased, the Central Bank must check the sources of funds used to pay for that increase. Read more.

On 2 April 2010, the Central Bank issued a Directive banning credit organisations from opening exchange offices as of the date of its entry into force (11 May 2010). Existing exchange offices will also have to be transformed or closed under the Directive. Read more.

The Central Bank has recommended that its territorial departments evaluate banks' exposure to their owners and affiliates and suggested a tentative list of criteria to establish that a bank mainly services the business of its owners. The Central Bank further recommended that the territorial departments report back to it on the results of their evaluations and, where the amount of exposure exceeds 20% of the banks' capital, it recommended that the banks and their owners decrease such exposure within a reasonable time. Read more.

On 22 April 2010, the President signed a new Federal Law introducing a comprehensive set of rules setting out the specifics of bankruptcy (insolvency) of financial organisations. The Law, which comes into force on 27 July 2010, does not affect credit organisations, but applies to other financial organisations, such as insurance companies, professional participants in the securities market, non-state pension funds, and management companies of investment funds, mutual investment funds and non-state pension funds. Its main aim is to introduce requirements to prevent financial organisations from becoming bankrupt. Read more.

New rules on challenging debtor's transactions and subsidiary liability of the debtor's controlling persons entered into force on 5 June 2009. On 27 April 2010 the Presidium of the Supreme Commercial Court issued an information letter clarifying that the new rules do not apply, regardless of when the bankruptcy proceedings were initiated, before their entry into force. Read more.

On 23 April 2010 the State Duma adopted in the first reading a new draft law seeking to amend a number of rules to increase the effectiveness of the out-of-court mortgage enforcement procedure. In particular, it allows the parties to agree that the starting price of the mortgaged property be decreased in the course of the public sale (currently the law requires that mortgaged property be sold to the highest bidder). Read more.

Click here for the full text of this month's Russian Federation updates.

In May 2010, the FSA published a report on how well commercial insurance broking firms are facing up to the risks of becoming involved in corrupt practices such as bribery. The report warns that many commercial broking firms have serious weaknesses in their systems and have failed to minimise the risks of being involved in bribery and corruption. In light of the recently enacted Bribery Act 2010, which creates a new strict liability offence for corporates and partnerships of failing to have adequate procedures to prevent bribery carried out on their behalf, the FSA's paper should be a wake-up call for firms to ensure that they are looking at how best to implement systems and controls which will be considered adequate in mitigating the risks of bribery and corruption as a top regulatory priority. Read more.

The FSA announced in March that its new approach to supervision of regulated firms would be 'intensive' and 'outcomes-based'. The latest FSA thinking on this new supervisory approach can be found in a speech by Jon Pain (Managing Director, Supervision, FSA) entitled "FSA's approach to intensive supervision". According to Pain the key to intensive supervision is that it is centred on intervention in a pro-active way, indicating that the FSA intends to conduct a more rigorous analytical approach as to how it regulates institutions. Pain mentioned further that such an approach will be rolled out to large banks and insurers later this year. However, the future of the FSA itself, remains in doubt. Read more.

In the UK's new Coalition Government, Former Conservative Party leader, Iain Duncan Smith has been appointed as the Secretary of State for the Department of Work and Pensions and Steve Webb (Liberal Democrats) has been appointed the new Pensions Minister. This article considers the key pension policies announced by the Con-Lib pact that they will be charged with implementing. Read more.

The UK's new Coalition Government have confirmed that they will be introducing a banking levy, although the details have not yet been announced. The new Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, in an interview with the Financial Times (published 17 May 2010), indicated that he supported the IMF's proposals (outlined here) for how a banking levy should be structured and stated that Britain would be introducing a bank tax even if other jurisdictions declined to follow suit. Read more.

Click here for the full text of this month's United Kingdom updates.

The US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit recently handed defendants a significant victory in one of the most important decisions concerning secondary liability under Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 since the Supreme Court's 2008 decision in Stoneridge Investment Partners, LLC v. Scientific-Atlanta, Inc. 552 U.S. 148. This article looks at the Second Circuit's ruling and considers the implications. Read more.

US employers that sponsor employment-based group health plans are now subject to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, as amended by the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 (collectively, the Act). The scope of the Act is broad and its implications for employer-sponsored plans are far-reaching. This article covers one aspect of the Act, the Early Retiree Reinsurance Program (Program). Read more.

Click here for the full text of this month's United States updates.