Structural Regulation

Asia Region Funds Passport Goes Live

03/02/2019

Japan, Thailand, Australia ready to receive applications from prospective ARFP funds; New Zealand, S. Korea making progress on legal and regulatory requirements.

Anti-Money Laundering

India Launches Money Laundering Probe Against Former ICICI Bank Chief

03/02/2019

India’s Enforcement Directorate will seek to determine if alleged kickbacks generated in loan deals worth $262mn were laundered to create tainted assets.

Payments & Settlements

SWIFT to Test New Gateway Enabling gpi for E-commerce

01/02/2019

The proof-of-concept will enable gpi payment initiation, end-to-end payment tracking, payer authentication and credit confirmation for on trade platforms.

Credit Risk

China Banks Wrote Off Bad Debt Worth $146bn in 2018

01/02/2019

Write-offs are the quickest and most direct way to reduce NPL ratios and free up the supply of credit at commercial banks.

Payments & Settlements

MAS Extends Deadline to Implement E-payments User Protection Guidelines

01/02/2019

The MAS is allowing an extra six months for compliance with its e-payments user protection guidelines, following requests from banks for more time to implement system changes.

Credit Risk

RBI Removes Three State Run Banks from PCA Framework

01/02/2019

India’s central bank has removed the Bank of India, Bank of Maharashtra and Oriental Bank of Commerce from lending restrictions under its prompt corrective action framework.

Trading & Investment

Bloomberg Indices to Include Chinese Local Currency Bonds from April

01/02/2019

The Bloomberg Barclays Global Aggregate Index will phase in Chinese government bonds and policy bank securities over 20 months, starting from April 2019.

Cryptocurrency

SC Malaysia Includes Digital Assets in ‘Recognised Market’ Guidelines

01/02/2019

Operators of electronic platforms for digital assets have until 1 March to submit an application to be formally recognised by the Securities Commission as market operators.

Trading & Investment

China to Expand Scope, Ease Requirements for QFII, RQFII Schemes

01/02/2019

New rules propose consolidating the QFII and RQFII into a single scheme, expanding the scope of investment products allowed and easing qualifying requirements for applicants.