DBS Completes Acquisition of Citi Consumer Businesses in Taiwan

14/08/2023

DBS chief Piyush Gupta said the integration accelerates the bank’s consumer business growth in Taiwan by at least ten years.

AML / KYC

SEBI Streamlines KYC Process for Securities Market Onboarding

14/08/2023

SEBI directs KRAs to verify client information so that they gain portability, and clients to skip repetitive KYC steps with different intermediaries.

Sanctions

OFAC Sanctions Four Russians Linked to Alfa Group

14/08/2023

The four individuals have already been sanctioned by Australia, Canada, the EU, New Zealand, and the UK.

Sanctions

Korea Unfreezes Iranian Funds as Part of US Prison Swap Deal

14/08/2023

$7bn of Iran’s funds have been frozen in South Korea since May 2019, after sanctions waivers for oil imports were allowed to expire.

Crypto / Digital Assets

SFC Grants ‘Approval In-Principle’ to HKVAX for Virtual Asset Trading

14/08/2023

Hong Kong’s SFC grants “in-principle” approval to HKVAX, the first given since the VATP licences granted to HashKey and OSL earlier this month.

Securities / Derivatives

BSP Issues New Rules for UITFs on the Use of Benchmarks

14/08/2023

The BSP specifies a one-year transition period to allow unit investment trust funds to review their benchmarks and make changes where needed.

AML / KYC

SEBI Tightens Disclosure Requirements for FPIs

14/08/2023

FPIs are required to provide information on persons with ownership, economic interest or control in an FPI.

Crypto / Digital Assets

Bank of Canada Discusses Potential Challenges of CBDC Adoption

14/08/2023

Consumers with unmet payment needs could only benefit from a CBDC if it is adopted widely by other consumers and merchants.

Enforcement

SFC, CSRC Agree to Allow Block Trading on Stock Connect

14/08/2023

Block trading will enhance price discovery and encourage more overseas investors to participate in the A-share market through Stock Connect, said the SFC’s Julia Leung.