Market Infrastructure

Hong Kong Faces Skills Shortage in Fintech, Cybersecurity – Survey

17/12/2018

Fintech and cybersecurity were viewed as the areas with the largest skills shortage, followed by a skills gap in regulatory and compliance knowledge.

Capital / Liquidity

Myanmar’s First Credit Bureau to Become Operational Within a Year

17/12/2018

Using software from Equifax, the new credit bureau will enable lenders to use credit histories to calculate bad debt risk and potentially lower the need for collateral.

AML / KYC

Stock Connect to Introduce Investor ID Regime for Southbound Trading

17/12/2018

Launched on 26 September for northbound trading, the investor identification regime will be introduced for southbound trading by the end of Q1 2019.

Capital / Liquidity

New Zealand Proposes to Nearly Double Bank Capital Requirements

17/12/2018

The proposal would set a Tier 1 capital requirement equal to 16% of risk-weighted assets for the big four banks, and 15% for other banks, up from 8.5% currently.

Capital / Liquidity

KDIC to Enhance Defences Against Defaults by Financial Firms

14/12/2018

The Korea Deposit Insurance Corp will upgrade its risk assessment and monitoring system in 2019 to protect against the credit risks of financial firms.

Capital / Liquidity

Basel Committee Consults on Leverage Ratio Disclosure Enhancements

14/12/2018

The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision seeks to revise leverage ratio disclosure requirements to address arbitrage and window-dressing by banks.editors

Market Infrastructure

Plans to Launch HK-China ETF Connect Put on Hold – Report

14/12/2018

Trading and settlement issues will require “a very long period of discussion” to resolve, according to SFC chairman Tim Lui, adding that the focus will shift to enabling ETF cross listings.

Capital / Liquidity

Rural Banks in China Found Hiding Bad Loans – Report

14/12/2018

China’s National Audit Office has reportedly found that five financial institutions concealed a combined $189mn in bad loans by misclassifying them as performing.

Securities / Derivatives

Hong Kong to Extend Profits Tax Exemption to Local PE, Hedge Funds

14/12/2018

Under the existing framework, non-retail funds domiciled in Hong Kong are not exempt from profits tax, unlike their offshore-domiciled counterparts.