Structural Regulation

Taiwan to Boost Competitiveness as Financial Centre

18/12/2019

Taiwan will relax its rules on financial products, expanding its OBU business, and boost the resilience and innovativeness of Taiwanese financial institutions.

Anti-Money Laundering

Japan Identifies 1.9m Undeclared Offshore Accounts Through CRS

17/12/2019

Of the 1.89 million offshore accounts identified through information exchanges under the Common Reporting Standard, 80% were located in Asia and Oceania.

Fraud, Scams & Cybercrime

New Zealand Passes Bill to End Predatory Lending

17/12/2019

Effective from April 2021, the bill will cap the interest and fees on loans at 100% of the loan amount and introduce a 0.8% per day rate cap for high-cost loans.

Trade Based Money Laundering

Bangladesh Issues Guidelines on Trade-based Money Laundering

17/12/2019

The guidelines require banks to develop written policies and procedures to assess and mitigate money laundering risks arising from their trade-related customers and activities.

Structural Regulation

India Passes Bill to Establish Unified Regulator for IFSCs

17/12/2019

In addition to regulating Gift City, the new authority will be responsible for any other international financial services centre set up in India in the future.

Market Abuse

SFC Bans Two Individuals for Window-Dressing Scheme

17/12/2019

For 3 years, the month-end liquid capital of W. Falcon Asset Management was falsely inflated with amounts on cheques that were later dishonoured.

Custody & Infrastructure

NZ FMA Identifies Weaknesses in Fund Custody Arrangements

17/12/2019

An FMA review found that custody administration tasks are often being delegated back to fund managers, which weakens the separation of functions and duties.

Payments & Settlements

CFETS Rolls Out Foreign Currency Pledged Repo Business

17/12/2019

The move is aimed at reducing the costs of foreign currency financing and diversifying foreign currency financing instruments.

Trading & Investment

SFC to Allow Hong Kong ETFs to Invest in Overseas Master ETFs

17/12/2019

The SFC will authorise index tracking feeder ETFs that want to invest in an overseas-listed, non-SFC authorised master ETF on a case-by-case basis.