Financial Crime

Conduct, Culture & Accountability

Australia Begins ‘Poor Advice’ Civil Proceedings Against Westpac

By Garima Chitkara | 18/06/2018

ASIC has begun civil proceedings against Westpac for failing to take necessary steps to ensure fair and efficient financial advice by Sudhir Sinha, a former financial advisor responsible for the breaches.

Anti-Bribery & Corruption

China’s Former CIRC Chief Pleads Guilty on Bribery Charges

By Manesh Samtani | 18/06/2018

Xiang Junbo pleaded guilty to taking $3mn in bribes during his six years as head of former insurance watchdog as well as earlier in his career at PBOC  and AgBank.

Conduct, Culture & Accountability

S. Korea Indicts 38 Bankers in Recruitment Probe

By Manesh Samtani | 18/06/2018

Charges against current and former bank officials involve hiring misconduct, special favours; 87% of hiring irregularities occurred at either KB Kookmin Bank or KEB Hana Bank.

Trading & Investment

GIFT City Exchanges Launch Omnibus Account Structure

By Manesh Samtani | 14/06/2018

BSE’s India INX and NSE IFSC have launched the segregated nominee account structure, allowing foreign investors to avoid direct FPI registration and instead trade Indian equities through established intermediaries.

Market Abuse

China, Hong Kong to Deepen Cross-Boundary Market Surveillance

By JP Reimann | 14/06/2018

Regulators discussed collaboration on market surveillance, intelligence sharing, coordinated investigations, and the establishment of a notification mechanism for cases involving dual listed shares and cross-boundary market misconduct.

Fraud, Scams & Cybercrime

Cryptocurrency Worth $1.1bn Stolen in H1 2018 – Report

By JP Reimann | 12/06/2018

Theft facilitated by $6.7mn dark web marketplace for crypto-related malware; cryptocurrency exchange most vulnerable to attack.

Emerging Prudential Risks

Volcker Rule – Road to Reform or Ruin?

By Peter Guy | 11/06/2018

Proposed changes by the Trump Administration to the Volcker Rule are already controversial. Linking cause and effect to risk management have only resulted in an excessively complex regulation that is proving difficult to reform in a “too big to fail” industry.

Market Abuse

SEBI Probes Leaked List of Companies Under Enhanced Surveillance

By Garima Chitkara | 11/06/2018

SEBI alleged that a list of 37 companies that were under the regulator’s Additional Surveillance Measure was leaked before the public announcement was made by the BSE.

KYC & CDD

ASIFMA Publishes AML/KYC Best Practice Paper

By JP Reimann | 11/06/2018

Industry group focuses on nine AML/KYC areas, largely drawn from industry consensus of best practices currently applied by members in Hong Kong and Singapore.