Countries

The relaxation of account opening policies will enable companies to open bank accounts in a few days rather than wait months for central bank approval.

The exchange has introduced market order at pre-closing, on-open orders, on-close orders, iceberg orders and one-cancel-other orders.

The new rules would prohibit firms from providing consulting services to companies they rate and require disclosures of any conflicts of interests.

By setting mortgage priority amounts almost three times the home loan principal, banks are preventing borrowers from shopping around for a second mortgage.

FWD Life also failed to maintain satisfactory internal controls and written compliance procedures as required under the SFC Code on MPF Products and the Fund Manager Code of Conduct.

In the year ahead, banks will have to focus on seamless data integration and regtech adoption to cope with increasingly complex regulatory reporting requirements, says Wolters Kluwer’s Wouter Delbaere.

The FSA is gauging industry interest in crypto ETFs, following its release of a new draft framework for the sector that could become law in 2020.

The CSRC imposed fines of over $1.55bn in 2018, with the largest number of cases relating to insider trading, illegal disclosures and market manipulation.

Lawmakers are pushing for greater oversight of credit reference agencies following the discovery of security loopholes in TransUnion's online service for credit reports.

The central bank is expected to allow financial institutions greater flexibility in setting interest rates for loans and deposits in the year ahead.