News Centre

Invesco’s MSCI World UCITS ETF Tops USD2 Billion In AuM As Investors Switch To Low-Cost Synthetic ETFs

Date 13/10/2020

Invesco’s MSCI World UCITS ETF has passed USD2 billion in assets under management, having grown 62% in AuM across 2020. The synthetic ETF, which tracks the performance of the MSCI World Total Return Index, has outperformed comparative physical ETFs and delivered better tracking error for investors across the year.

KGI Securities (Singapore) Rolls Out New eFX Pricing In SG1 With MaxxTrader Solution

Date 13/10/2020

FlexTrade Systems (@FlexTrade), a global leader in multi-asset execution and order management systems, announces its client KGI Securities will launch the KGI MaxxTrader’s electronic foreign exchange (FX) pricing and trading engine in Singapore.

Shenzhen Stock Exchange Earnestly Studies And Implements The Circular Of The State Council On Further Improving The Quality Of Listed Companies

Date 13/10/2020

On October 9, the Circular of the State Council on Further Improving the Quality of Listed Companies (the “Circular”) was released. The Circular has laid down the general requirements on improving the quality of listed companies from the perspectives of accelerating refining the socialist market economic system and promoting modernization of China's system and capacity for governance. Besides, it has made systematic deployment and arrangements in six aspects to improve the quality of listed companies. The six aspects are improving the corporate governance system, assisting listed companies in becoming better and stronger, refining the delisting mechanism, solving prominent problems facing listed companies, increasing the cost for any actions against laws and regulations by listed companies and relevant entities and forming the working synergy to improve their quality. The Circular has fully shown the great attention that the CPC Central Committee and the State Council has paid to improving the quality of listed companies and facilitating healthy, stable development of the capital market. It has set the goal and pointed out the direction for the regulatory services for listed companies. 

SGX And NZX To Explore Global Dairy Derivatives Partnership

Date 13/10/2020

Singapore Exchange (SGX) and New Zealand’s Exchange (NZX) have today signed a Heads of Agreement in relation to a global partnership to grow NZX’s dairy derivatives market together.

HKEX: No Trading Today In Securities And Derivatives Markets Due To Issuance Of Typhoon Signal No. 8

Date 13/10/2020

Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEX) announced that today's trading sessions in the securities and derivatives markets, including After-Hours Futures Trading, have been cancelled due to the issuance of Typhoon Signal No. 8.

Deal Activity In Asia-Pacific Up By 3.9% In September 2020, Reveals GlobalData

Date 13/10/2020

A total of 2,176 deals were announced in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region during September 2020, an increase of 3.9% over the 2,094 deals announced during the previous month, according to GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

Singapore’s First Centre Of Excellence To Drive Asia-Focused Green Finance Research And Talent Development

Date 13/10/2020

Imperial College Business School and the Lee Kong Chian School of Business at Singapore Management University (SMU) today launched the Singapore Green Finance Centre (SGFC). This is Singapore’s first research institute dedicated to green finance research and talent development.

Press Conference By Aso Taro, Japan's Deputy Prime Minister, Minister Of Finance, And Minister Of State For Financial Services - September 11, 2020

Date 13/10/2020

[Questions and answers:]

Q.

I would like to ask about NTT DoCoMo’s e-money service and DoCoMo accounts. It has been confirmed as of yesterday that 18 million yen in losses had been sustained from unauthorized withdrawals. DoCoMo stated at yesterday’s press conference that it is negotiating with banks to fully compensate victims. As Minister for Financial Services, do you have comments on this case and on ways to prevent recurrences?

A.

Speaking from the perspective of user protection, the Financial Services Agency believes firstly that full compensation for everyone who lost money is important. From the press release and such, I am aware that DoCoMo has said it will be working with its partner banks to try to fully compensate victims. Secondly, it is essential that further losses from such improper withdrawals be prevented. DoCoMo and the banks are now suspending new registrations for DoCoMo accounts and halting charges from bank accounts with inadequate authentication methods. Thirdly, we must prevent recurrences. If money can be slipped out that easily, then it will be. I have heard that up to 300,000 yen per month can be charged from bank accounts. DoCoMo and banks must take such steps as introducing two-stage authentication to prevent recurrences, in other words, making it so that users cannot log in without a pre-authenticated reservation or a personal identification number as well as a one-time passcode. In any case, I think compensation needs to be paid out, further losses stopped, and recurrences prevented. If financial institutions are counting on fund transfer service providers not affiliated with financial institutions – NTT DoCoMo in this particular case – to do what would be expected of banks, this could become a chink in the armor. Companies offering similar services and banks should not regard this as someone else’s problem; with fund transfer service providers and other non-conventional finance companies entering the market, making preparations to ensure these companies are properly handling matters in the same way financial institutions themselves are will help prevent wrongdoing.

ASIC: Regulators Urge Australian Institutions To Adhere To The ISDA IBOR Fallbacks Protocol And Supplement

Date 13/10/2020

Regulators and industry are taking further steps to transition away from LIBOR, which is expected to cease after the end of 2021. In particular, on Friday 9 October 2020 the International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA) announced that it will launch the 2020 IBOR Fallbacks Protocol and associated Supplement to the 2006 ISDA Definitions on 23 October 2020. These are needed to implement robust fall-back provisions for derivative contracts referencing key interbank offered rates (IBORs), including the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR). The protocol and supplement are informed by extensive consultation with industry, including in Australia.

Press Conference By Aso Taro, Japan's Deputy Prime Minister, Minister Of Finance, And Minister Of State For Financial Services - September 18, 2020

Date 13/10/2020

[Questions and answers:]

Q.

I would like to ask about the management of regional banks. At the press conference held at the Prime Minister's Office on the 16th, you stated that environmental improvement would be made for the sake of strengthening the operating foundations of regional banks including the enhancement of restructuring. The government already passed a special law back in May exempting the integration of regional banks from application of the Anti-Monopoly Act, but what other steps is the government considering to further improve the environment? Please let us know your thoughts at the moment.

A.

Speaking on the basis of the prime minister’s directive to cabinet members, we at the Financial Services Agency are committed to continued efforts to restore the business condition of regional banks. More specifically, we will first be revising the Cabinet Office ordinances in accordance with the special provisions in the Anti-Monopoly Act scheduled to go into effect in November. With population on the decline and various changes taking place locally, banks can no longer sit around and simply expect deposits to be made and people to come in to borrow money. The approaches adopted for regional revitalization will differ just as circumstances differ by region, so there is no guarantee that regional banks can stay in business by sticking with the same management practices they have employed thus far. This is something I have been saying from the outset. With regional banks needing each in their own way to make unprecedented management efforts, I have said that mergers are one option and mergers have in fact been taking place in Nagasaki and elsewhere. As for whether there are too many or too few mergers, there are some extremely dynamic regional banks in certain regions, so we think that this is best left to the management discretion of individual banks. We are not running a controlled economy, and we cannot have people mistakenly thinking that we are. At the same time, I have said from the start that circumstances will not permit companies to carry on with their current business models unchanged.

Q.

I would like to ask about your expectations of the State Minister of Finance. Diet member Kenji Nakanishi was recently appointed State Minister of Finance. At the press conference following your reappointment, you mentioned creating an environment conducive to foreign personnel with the aim of establishing an international financial city as one of the instructions you received from Prime Minister Suga. In view of developments since then, are there any particular roles you are expecting of Mr. Nakanishi, who has served as vice president at JP Morgan Securities?