On January 1 2011 the Federal Code of Civil Procedure entered into force and replaced the procedural law statutes of the 26 Swiss cantons which previously governed procedural matters in their respective territorial areas of application.

In September 2007 Greece adopted the Bankruptcy Code (by virtue of Law 3588/07) replacing existing legislation governing bankruptcy, as well as pre-bankruptcy voluntary restructuring and liquidation proceedings (Articles 44-46a of Law 1892/90). Click here for more..

As of 1 January 2012, offerors (both Dutch and foreign) of financial products and services on the Dutch market will be subject to important new rules. Click here for more..

The latest instalment of the drama that is the eurozone periphery sovereign debt crisis and European Union-wide banking sector crisis demonstrates that fiscal federalism is not going to happen, the Financial Times reported. Nor will its primitive sibling, an open-ended, uncapped transfer Europe with creditor or donor countries in control of public spending, taxation and privatisation in debtor or beneficiary countries.

Economic policy in the developed world over the past 25 years has followed one overriding principle: the avoidance of recession at all costs. For much of this period monetary policy was the weapon of choice. When markets wobbled, central banks slashed interest rates. A by-product of this policy was a series of debt-financed asset bubbles.

Protests outside the palace, IMF warnings to cut spending, people in suits avoiding the mob, fear of a run on the banks, the spectre of default, a currency fixed to a much stronger economy: Greece, 2011, or Argentina, 2001? "Que se vayan todos!" (They must all go!) was the slogan of the protesters forcing out the Argentine president who locked away their bank savings, triggering default and devaluation.

In a SPIEGEL interview, Allianz CEO Michael Diekmann discusses the participation of private creditors in a new bailout for Greece, the German insurance giant's contribution to the aid package and his proposal for a long-term solution to Athens' problems. SPIEGEL: Mr. Diekmann, the financial services industry is prepared to contribute to the new bailout package for Greece. How voluntary is this contribution? Diekmann: It needs to be voluntary enough for rating agencies and auditors to accept it.

France, the birthplace of the enlightenment and much of modern philosophy, is proud of its history of embracing big ideas.

The "Big Three" credit rating agencies can determine the fate of entire countries, by deciding whether they are creditworthy or not. Now Portugal is under pressure after Moody's downgraded its debt to junk status. European politicians want to create an alternative, even though they helped give so much power to the agencies in the first place, Spiegel Online reported. Strange as it may seem, there are still credit rating agencies that give cash-strapped Greece top marks.

The metaphor of choice during the euro-area crisis has been that of dominoes falling. First came Greece, then Ireland, and then Portugal; next in line would be Spain. The fear now, with Italian government bonds suffering another day of widening spreads, is that contagion will strike less predictably, The Economist Schumpeter blog reported.