Asia Newsletter | June 2022

NEWSLETTER: It’s difficult not to draw out the trend in two of our articles this month that according to our recent surveys, firms are struggling to keep up with new regulatory requirements. In Hong Kong the upcoming SFC bookbuilding requirements are still proving challenging for 44% of surveyed brokers and banks, and in Singapore more than 50% of managers admitted to having not yet fully implemented new best execution rules introduced in March.

We all know that the pace of change is relentless, so it’s not surprising to see cracks appear every now and then. But more interesting for me is to consider how the regulators might respond.

The SFC issued a consultation paper on their ‘Proposed Amendments to Enforcement-related Provisions of the Securities and Futures Ordinance’ on 10 June, which if implemented in full will strengthen the tools available and likely the approach to enforcement.

Singapore’s proposed Financial Services and Markets Bill, which had its second reading in Parliament in April, proposes to expand the enforcement tools available to the MAS, including widening its powers with respect to the issue of Prohibition Orders. The combination of relentless change along with more aggressive enforcement could be a daunting one.

Along a similar fast-paced-change theme, but on a slightly brighter note, do check out our featured white paper this month which will give you all the answers you need on global trends in cryptocurrency and digital assets.

Rebecca Thorpe
Head of Asia

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