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The purpose of this paper is to highlight not only the pre‐closing, but also the continuing due diligence required of all parties in private placement life insurance or annuities invested in hedge funds.

This technical paper describes the due diligence process for these high‐end offerings, illustrating key concerns through case studies.

Recent events have caused the advantages, disadvantages and timing issues to crystallize, together with what issues require pre‐closing and post‐closing due diligence.

This paper provides timely guidance from experts approaching the issues from multiple disciplines – law, accounting, and financial analysis – to yield a comprehensive analysis of the position of all parties to the transaction.

Although the focus of this issue is on investment in British industry and hence we are particularly concerned with debt and shares, the transactions and holdings in these cannot be separated from the range of other financial claims, including property, that are available to investors. In consequence this article focuses on an overview of the financial system including in Section 2 a presentation of the flow of funds matrix of the financial claims that make up the system. We also examine more closely the role of the financial institutions that are part of the system by utilising the sources and uses statements for three sectors, non‐bank financial institutions, personal sector and industrial and commercial companies. Then we provide, in Section 3, a discussion of the various financial claims investors can hold. In Section 4 we give a portrayal of the portfolio disposition of each of the major types of financial institution involved in the market for company securities specifically insurance companies (life and general), pension funds, unit and investment trusts, and in Section 4 a market study is performed for ordinary shares, debentures and preference shares for holdings, net acquisitions and purchases/sales. A review of some of the empirical evidence on the financial institutions is presented in Section 5 and Section 6 is by way of a conclusion. The data series extend in the main from 1966 to 1981, though at the time of writing, some 1981 data are still unavailable. In addition, the point needs to be made that the samples have been constantly revised so that care needs to be exercised in the use of the data.

Since the initiation of the share split reform by the Chinese Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) in 2005, the private placement has become the major source of raising equity after IPO. The purpose of this paper is to investigate why listed firms in China prefer private placements compared to other options of raising capital.

The ordinary least squares regression, the piecewise regression and the cross‐sectional regression analysis were undertaken to investigate the determinants and characteristics of the seasoned‐equity offerings announcement effects. Probit regression analysis was taken to estimate the probability of a firm choosing private placements.

The authors find positive significant announcement abnormal returns for private placement. The findings also indicate that operating performance deteriorates immediately after announcement and poor operating performance is more likely to be contributed by large size portfolios, which suggests size effect.

The paper's evidence contributes to an understanding of the wider implication of the share split reform undertaken by the CSRC.

The paper provides insights for policy makers in China and around the world who have and wish to adopt similar practices within their jurisdictions. Similar research can be conducted in other emerging markets to enable better understanding and implications of seasoned equity offerings on firm financial performance.

The paper is novel in regard to the data and the wider research paradigm used.

Investigates the differences in protocols between arbitral tribunals and courts, with particular emphasis on US, Greek and English law. Gives examples of each country and its way of using the law in specific circumstances, and shows the variations therein. Sums up that arbitration is much the better way to gok as it avoids delays and expenses, plus the vexation/frustration of normal litigation. Concludes that the US and Greek constitutions and common law tradition in England appear to allow involved parties to choose their own judge, who can thus be an arbitrator. Discusses e‐commerce and speculates on this for the future.

The Insurance Act was passed in the Czech Republic in 1991. It provided for the establishment of new insurance companies and competition between them. The Ministry of Finance was authorised to supervise insurance activities. Amendments to the Act in 1993 covered the formation and financial placement of technical provisions and made changes to insurance company accounting rules. The second important transitional step was taken in 1999 with the passage of the new Insurance Act and a motor third party liability insurance Act with the aim of harmonising Czech insurance law with the EU legal framework. This harmonisation process should be finished by the end of 2002.

This book is a policy proposal aimed at the democratic left. It is concerned with gradual but radical reform of the socio‐economic system. An integrated policy of industrial and economic democracy, which centres around the establishment of a new sector of employee‐controlled enterprises, is presented. The proposal would retain the mix‐ed economy, but transform it into a much better “mixture”, with increased employee‐power in all sectors. While there is much of enduring value in our liberal western way of life, gross inequalities of wealth and power persist in our society.

The purpose of this summary is to provide excerpts of selected Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) Regulatory Notices and Disciplinary Actions issued in April, May, and June 2010.

The paper provides excerpts from FINRA Regulatory Notice 10‐18, Master Accounts and Sub‐Accounts; 10‐22, Regulation D Offerings; 10‐23, Trade Reporting and Compliance Engine (TRACE); 10‐24, Trade Reporting; 10‐27, Customer Complaint Reporting; and 10‐30, Trading‐Pause Pilot Program; provides summaries of selected disciplinary actions.

(10‐18) If a firm has notice that the sub‐accounts of a master account have different beneficial ownership (but does not know the identities of the beneficial owners) or the firm is privy to facts and/or circumstances that would reasonably raise the issue as to whether the sub‐accounts, in fact, may have separate beneficial owners, then the firm must inquire further and satisfy itself as to the beneficial ownership of each such sub‐account. (10‐22) A broker‐dealer has a duty – enforceable under federal securities laws and FINRA rules – to conduct a reasonable investigation of securities that it recommends, including those sold in a Regulation D offering. (10‐23) On February 22, 2010, the SEC approved the second major proposed expansion of TRACE to include Asset‐backed Securities as TRACE‐Eligible Securities, to require the reporting of Asset‐backed Securities transactions and to establish reporting fees. (10‐27) Starting on July 1, 2010, the beginning of the third calendar quarter, firms must use revised and new product codes to report statistical information regarding written customer complaints relating to annuities and life settlement products. (10‐30) On June 10, 2010, FINRA began a pilot program in which it will halt trading otherwise than on an exchange with respect to securities included in the S&P 500® Index where the primary listing market has issued a trading pause due to extraordinary market volatility. Selected disciplinary actions: FINRA announced that it has settled charges with two additional firms relating to the sale of auction rate securities (ARS) that became illiquid when auctions froze in February 2008. FINRA announced that it has fined five broker‐dealers a total of $385,000 for the illegal sale of more than 8 billion shares of penny stock on behalf of their customers.

These are direct excerpts designed to provide a useful digest for the reader and an indication of regulatory trends. The FINRA staff is aware of this summary but has neither reviewed nor edited it. For further detail as well as other useful information, the reader should visit www.finra.org.

The purpose of this paper is is to identify the main determinants of insurance profitability on life and non-life segments to obtain which variables affect in each market of the Ecuadorian insurance sector.

The authors use a large panel data set with financial information from 2001 to 2017 and estimate the determinants through a panel corrected standard errors regression.

The authors found that net premiums, technical reserves, capital ratio and score efficiency are micro-determinants in the life insurance sector, whereas in the non-life sector, the micro-determinants include also claim level and liquidity ratio; moreover, the authors found that HHI is a determinant of profitability only in the life insurance. Among the macro determinants set, the authors found that the interest rate has also a significant impact both in the life and non-life insurance.

The authors analyze a dollarized emerging country, which is the first time in this kind of studies. The authors also include the structure-conduct-performance and relative market power paradigm as well as the ES hypothesis, calculated through the data envelopment analysis, as determinants of insurance profitability. Finally, this is the first research to examine the determinants of profitability in Latin American and Caribbean insurers.

The purpose of this paper is to assess the current legal framework on money laundering control in the insurance sector. Essentially, this examination is premised on the interrogation of whether it is still appropriate for Mauritius to apply such stringent, opaque and unyielding Anti-Money Laundering/Combating Financing of Terrorism norms and rules on general insurance when developed nations such as the UK and Singapore have done away with them for a more effective combat against money laundering. It would also be assessed why the financial services commission (FSC) is not able to draw inspiration from its British and Singaporean counterparts in fighting money laundering more effectively.

This paper uses the doctrinal legal research methodology which is colloquially described as “black-letter law” approach. It is backed up by a contextual legal analysis that is based on an analysis of relevant legal provisions. It relies ground experience from the insurance industry through the experience of the authors. A comparative approach is used with Singapore and the UK as case studies given that there are significant commonalities to the Mauritian jurisdiction as well as useful differences.

It is observed that a move towards a de-regulation of the legal framework on money laundering in the insurance sector with a more relaxed approach is more effective for the Mauritian insurance sector. Evidence is drawn from the Singaporean and British models. A re-structuring of the FSC of Mauritius is also warranted for such an approach to be adopted.

This paper is among the first academic contribution that proposes a de-regulation and the adoption of a relaxed approach of and by the Mauritian Insurance Industry for a more effective combat against money laundering. It serves as a legal foundational basis for further research in this direction.