Resource Library

Last month, the merger simplification package adopted by the European Commission entered into force. The main objective of this reform is to achieve a greater level of efficiency in merger review and to reduce the administrative burdens for the businesses involved. The most relevant measures introduced by the package include widening the scope of transactions, which may benefit from the simplified procedure, and updating notification forms. The Commission has also revised its guidelines on commitments offered by parties.

A discussion of Dubai's special judicial committee designed to address "the liquidation of cancelled real estate projects in Dubai and the settlement of relevant rights." Includes a review of the Committee's powers and practical application.

The purpose of this brief note is to help market participants make contingency plans where the political crisis involving Ukraine results in sanctions and embargoes, exchange controls, expropriations and the break up of Ukraine. It focuses in particular on the legal impact these events might have on financial contracts, such as bond issues, bank loan agreements, deposits and investments. It does not deal with wider political and economic consequences, such as the impact on a country’s economy and its banking system.

Within the context of the international and European proposals on the resolution of banking crises, the French government published a draft banking law that proposes to ring-fence certain speculative banking activities, and to introduce a number of measures for the prevention and resolution of banking crises under French law.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) announced on 28 June 2013 the introduction of further measures to fine-tune residential property loan rules, which came into effect on 29 June 2013. MAS Notice 632 has been amended to reflect these new rules, and MAS has also issued a new Notice 645, setting out details as to how banks and financial institutions are to compute the total debt servicing ratio for property loans.