Stablecoins

Temasek Joins Libra Association as First Asia Pacific Backer

17/05/2020

Temasek’s participation in the Libra Association will allow it to contribute toward a regulated global network for cost effective retail payments.

Market Abuse

CSRC Bans Six Executives for Kangmei Pharma Accounting Fraud

17/05/2020

The company and 21 of its employees have also been fined for using false documents and transaction records to inflate cash positions.

Trading & Investment

Hong Kong Lowers Transaction Costs for ETF Market Makers

16/05/2020

An amendment waives stamp duties on primary market stock transfers involving ETF market makers’ activities to create and redeem ETF units.

Structural Regulation

Australian Makes Tax Relief for Merging Super Funds Permanent

16/05/2020

Financial Services Council chief Sally Loane welcomed the move, but expressed disappointment with changes that may create another tax compliance burden for managed funds.

Structural Regulation

SEBI Relaxes Public Shareholding Requirement for Listed Entities

16/05/2020

The move will mean promoters with more than 75% shareholding in a listed company will not have to divest their holdings while the current challenging environment persists.

Anti-Money Laundering

Westpac Files Defence in Federal Court on its AML/CTF Failures

16/05/2020

While Westpac made a number of admissions regarding AUSTRAC’s claims, the bank said the majority of its international money transfers were correctly reported.

Capital Adequacy

SFC Declines to Take Action Against HSBC for No-dividend Decision

15/05/2020

Some investors in HSBC alleged the bank failed to safeguard their interests. Others questioned whether the bank’s discussions with the Bank of England were disclosed in a timely manner.

Model Risk

CCP Margin Models May Need Fine-tuning: BIS Paper

15/05/2020

Some CCP margin models underestimate market volatility because they rely on a short period of historical price movements from tranquil times, the paper says.

Trading & Investment

ISDA Publishes Final Report on Pre-cessation Fallbacks for LIBOR

15/05/2020

ISDA expects to publish amendments to the 2006 ISDA Definitions to incorporate the fallbacks for new trades in July, along with a protocol to allow participants to incorporate the revisions into legacy trades.