By Chloe Duan and Grace Ye
The China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) promulgated two sets of guidelines in relation to bond issuance on 20 June 2023, namely “Guiding Opinions on Deepening the Reform of Bond Registration System” and “Guiding Opinions on Raising the Quality of Bond Business Practice by Intermediaries under the Registration System” (collectively, the Guidelines).
Read MoreBy: Jim Bulling and Kai Luck
On 27 June 2023, the Australian Treasury released a further consultation paper (consultation period open until 21 July 2023) on the introduction of a mandatory climate disclosure framework in Australia.
Under a phased-in approach, by 2027-28, all entities required to lodge financial reports will be subject to the disclosure framework. Larger entities fulfilling two of three criteria (consolidated revenue of AUD$500 million or more, consolidated gross assets of AUD$1 billion or more and 500 or more employees) will be required to lodge reports first, from 2024-25 with smaller entities which satisfy two of three criteria (consolidated revenue of AUD$50 million or more, consolidated gross assets of AUD$25 million or more, and 100 or more employees) having an extra two years to comply.
Read MoreBy Jim Bulling and Grace Hall
The Chair of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), Joe Longo, commented on three key ESG focus areas of the regulator in recent speeches.
In addition to governance, greenwashing and growth in sustainable financing, the Chair discussed the phenomenon of “greenhushing”, where companies decline to make any voluntary climate-related disclosures.
Read MoreBy Robert Lloyd and Philip Morgan
On 27 June 2023, the UK and the EU Commission entered into a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on regulatory cooperation in financial services triggered, it seems, by the agreement of revised arrangements on Northern Ireland. You could be forgiven for thinking that the MoU was agreed a long time ago – accordingly to a nonbinding joint declaration between the EU and the UK, the targeted date was 31 March 2021. At the end of the Brexit transition period on 31 December 2020 few people would have expected that it would take the best part of two and a half years to reach this modest objective.
Read MoreBy Daniel Knight, Cameron Abbott, Rob Pulham, Dadar Ahmadi-Pirshahid
Amid global calls for tailored regulation of artificial intelligence tools, the Australia Federal Government has released a discussion paper on the safe and responsible use of AI. The Government is consulting on what safeguards are needed to ensure Australia has an appropriate regulatory and governance framework.
Read MoreBy Rich Kerr, Eden Rohrer, and Max Black
In a stunning move, over the last two days, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has filed back-to-back enforcement actions against major crypto exchanges Binance (See here) and Coinbase (See here). This clearly indicates that the SEC is flexing its enforcement power over both international exchanges as well as those exchanges with a focus on the United States. Please visit the K&L Gates Fintech and Blockchain Law Watch to see commentary about these developments from our Digital Assets team.
Thousands of advertisements for cryptoasset-related products were displayed on London public transport, including the underground network, in 2021. There has been a drop-off since the Advertising Standards Authority (“ASA”) issued standards for crypto adverts. Nonetheless, in 2022 there were reportedly adverts for 24 crypto products on London public transport. Now, however, legislation seems likely to end much of this public advertisement of crypto in the UK.
Read MoreBy Chloe Duan and Grace Ye
Shanghai Stock Exchange (SHSE) announced that it has entered into a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Singapore Exchange (SGX) to establish a link for exchange-traded funds (ETFs) between two exchanges. SHSE and SGX are also aiming to jointly develop more ETF products available to investors on both markets via the link.
Read MoreBy Daniel Knight and Grace Hall
The Australian Government has committed to reforming Australia’s AML/CTF regime, with proposed reforms aimed to strengthen and modernise the framework.
In April 2023, the Attorney-General released the first of two consultation papers outlining the proposed reforms to the regime. Subsequently, as part of the 2023-24 Federal Budget, the Government announced that it will provide $14.3 million in funding over the next four years to support policy and legislative reforms to the AML/CTF regime.
Read MoreBy: Pablo J. Man, Ruth E. Delaney, Matthew F. Phillips, and Gustavo De La Cruz Reynozo
On May 3, 2023, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) approved amendments to Form PF, the confidential reporting form required to be filed by private fund advisers. The amendments expand the scope of Form PF’s disclosure obligations to require large hedge fund advisers to file new “current” reports and all private equity fund advisers to file new quarterly reports upon the occurrence of certain events. Large private equity advisers will also be required to provide new information in their annual updates.
The amended Form PF will require:
The new “current” reporting and quarterly event reporting requirements take effect six months following publication of the final rule in the Federal Register. The other amendments take effect one year following publication of the final rule in the Federal Register.
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