Top 10 Finance and Banking Headlines from Asia Pacific China’s Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) has continued its recent trend of taking an activist approach to merger control in imposing conditions under the Anti-Monopoly Law (AML) on the clearance of two proposed mergers, Pfizer/Wyeth and General Motors/Delphi. On September 28, 2009, the PRC General Administration of Press and Publication (“GAPP”), National Copyright Administration, and National Office of Combating Pornography and Illegal Publications jointly published the Notice Regarding the Consistent Implementation of the “Stipulations on ‘Three Provisions’” of the State Council and the Relevant Interpretations of the State Commission Office for Public Sector Reform and the Further Strengthening of the Administration of Pre-examination and Approval In November 2008, Deutsche Börse AG and the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) concluded a cooperation agreement in which both partners agreed to simplify access to their stock exchanges for companies in their respective markets. Hong Kong is a premier centre for hedge fund management in Asia, boasting easy access to North Asia deal flow, world-class infrastructure, an internationally regarded regulatory framework and a relatively benign tax environment. The Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission ("SFC") has announced landmark proposals to overhaul the existing regulatory framework for unlisted investment products in a bid to further safeguard investor interests. It is a year since the fall of Lehman Brothers and the global financial crisis that followed. The Anti-money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism Bill 2009 is now an Act of Parliament, having gained royal assent on 16 October 2009. A moratorium on debt repayments by individuals and small business owners has been advocated by Shizuka Kamei, Japan’s financial services minister, since he took office in mid-September. For some time, there has been widespread concern that independent expert reports are fast losing relevance due to concerns that the expert is not truly independent. This recent unanimous decision of the High Court of Australia highlights the need for mortgagees to carefully consider the terms contained in their guarantees, as certain provisions can displace priority arrangements between mortgagees in any enforcement action, through rights of subrogation. | 
