ICBC news

Described as an English badge, the select few UK firms considered part of the so-called ‘magic circle’, have the found that the term isn’t quite the stamp of approval in Hong Kong as it is in London. Stephen Mulrenan finds out why.

Industrial and Commercial Bank Asia and Fortis Bank Asia HK signed a sale and purchase agreement on 31 December forming Hong Kong's sixth largest bank.

Clifford Chance has advised on the first conversion of a Sino-foreign joint venture bank to a wholly foreign-owned bank (WFOE Bank) in China.

Two recently closed Singapore-listed bond issues mark a dramatic change in the international debt market out of China, according to Herbert Smith.

ALB's inaugural ALB Deals of the Year Awards SE Asia will be held at the Fullerton Hotel in Singapore on 17 March

A consortium of banks turned to Lovells for advice on a US$464m loan to a subsidiary of listed infrastructure group Hopewell Holdings.

Bank of America Corporation's US$3bn strategic investment in China Construction Bank was the largest single foreign investment in a Chinese company and the first foreign strategic investment in one of China's 'big four' state-owned banks.

As more pieces have been put together, the jigsaw puzzle of the Chinese legal market starts presents an increasingly integrated and impressive landscape. With the unstoppable economic boom, lawyers' ambitions are surging alongside ALB reports.

Financial institutions worldwide are preparing for the implementation of a major new regulatory accord. ALB looks at what banks, lawyers and their clients need to know

As a growing amount of capital seeks a home in Asia, the funds industry is booming, and maturing into a more sophisticated market comparable with its more developed cousins

After a record-making 2006, capital markets lawyers have burst into 2007 running, as the goals of local companies hungry for capital meet with eager global investors

ALB takes a closer look at the development of the legal industry in a number of leading economic centres in China

Chinese outbound investments are likely to soar, given the particularly strong Chinese appetite in the natural resources and energy sector.

Increasingly, the divide between the burgeoning mainland legal system and Hong Kong’s own common law jurisdiction is, at a practical level, becoming blurred. ALB asks Hong Kong lawyers whether this trend is enhancing their leading position in the industry or bringing more competition from their mainland counterparts

Law firms in Hong Kong are preparing themselves for a series of family owned bank acquisitions from mainland banks, following the recent and unexpected acquisition of Wing Lung Bank from China Merchants Bank.

Lawyers on both sides of the Strait expect to benefit from improving economic ties between the mainland and Taiwan

Zhang Wei, general manager of the legal department of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, discusses the evolving role of in-house counsel in a globally expanding Chinese company such as his own

Hong Kong law firms prepare for M&A wave

The impact on leading capital markets law firms of tumultuous A-share and H-share markets has thus far been remarkably light. ALB China reports

ALB takes a closer look at the development of the legal industry in a number of leading economic centres in China.