Capital / Liquidity

Bank of Thailand Expands Debt Clinic Scheme for Troubled Borrowers

27/04/2018

‘Debt Clinic’ programme to pooling unsecured bad loans under Sukhumvit Asset Management will expand to an additional 50,000 borrowers.

AML / KYC

ACAMS 2018: HKMA Calls on Financial Industry in Fight Against Crime

26/04/2018

Deputy chief Arthur Yuen highlighted technological innovation, increased information sharing and the application of a risk-based approach as the key issues to implementing effective AML systems.

Securities / Derivatives

China Launches Pilot to Enable Trading of Restricted H-Shares

24/04/2018

Founding and controller shareholders of HK-listed Chinese companies will be able to convert non-tradable stock into ordinary H-shares, starting with Legend Holdings.

Enforcement

Australia Toughens Criminal, Civil Penalties for Misconduct

22/04/2018

Criminal offences can result in 10 years imprisonment or $725,000 for individuals; or the larger of $7.25 million, 3 times the benefits, or 10% of annual turnover for companies.

Big Picture

APAC Firms Failing at Cyber Breach Detection – Report

22/04/2018

Asia Pacific firms take over 16 months to detect breaches, compared to over three months globally; over 35 months if breaches detected by external parties.

Market Infrastructure

‘Significant’ Governance Progress from Australian Banks – McPhee Report

20/04/2018

Key initiatives introduced at banks include customer advocacy programmes, whistleblower protection policies and conduct background checks to stamp out staff with poor behaviour records.

Enforcement

ASIC Seeks Powers to Hasten Bank Remediation

20/04/2018

Australian banks take on average over 4 years to identify misconduct, over 4 months to report it, over 7 months post-investigation to compensate customers.

Fintech / Regtech

Hong Kong Work Plan Includes Incentives for Fund Industry

20/04/2018

Government reviewing and enhancing existing tax concession arrangements for fund industry; HKMA to launch real-time payments, issue virtual bank licences this year.

Enforcement

Australia Royal Commission Finds AMP Repeatedly Deceived Regulator

19/04/2018

Wealth manager AMP covered up for years a policy of charging customers fees for advice they never received; sought to influence “independent” review into the practice to protect executives.