By: Jim Bulling and Laura McFadzean
On 14 November 2023, the Australian Government released what is described as the first of three tranches of proposed draft legislation implementing the QAR recommendations.
While the government is still saying it intends to address the remaining recommendations of the QAR, there were no commitments given at this stage.
Read MoreBy: Carolyn Sng and Tan Choo Lye
The Securities and Futures Commission of Hong Kong (SFC) has on 2 November 2023 issued guidance for the tokenisation of investment products authorised by it for offer to the public in Hong Kong, such as mutual funds, unit trusts and other collective investment schemes. The SFC is adopting a see-through approach, permitting tokenisation of authorised investment products if the underlying product satisfies all applicable authorisation requirements and additional safeguards are in place to address the new risks associated with tokenisation arrangements.
Read MoreBy: Matthew Watts and Rebecca Mangos
The Australia Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has released its second report on information lodged under the reportable situations regime for the period 1 July 2022 to 30 June 2023.
Read MoreBy: Carolyn Sng and Yeu Sook Young
The Securities and Futures Commission in Hong Kong (SFC) has announced its support for the development of a voluntary code of conduct (VCoC) for ESG ratings and data products providers. The proposed VCoC, which will be open for ESG ratings and data products providers to sign up voluntarily, and will align with international best practices as recommended by the International Organization of Securities Commissions.
Read MoreBy: Jim Bulling, Lisa Lautier and Ben Kneebush
On 23 October 2023, the Australian Accounting Standards Board (AASB) released the long-awaited Exposure Draft outlining the Australian climate-related reporting standards.
Read MoreBy: Carolyn Sng and Tan Choo Lye
The Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) of Hong Kong is consulting on new guidelines to regulate market soundings in advance of transactions such as private placements and block trades. Market soundings are the communication of non-public information (whether price-sensitive or not) with potential investors prior to the announcement of the transaction to gauge investor interest or assist in determining the specifications of the potential transaction. It can be an integral part of price discovery, but the process may be open to abuse if parties trade on the back of non-public information obtained.
Read MoreBy: Ken Holston, TJ Bright, Pablo Man, Matthew Mangan, Chris Phillips-Hart, Annabelle North
On August 23, 2023, the SEC adopted sweeping new rules that will impose substantial regulation on the management and operation of private funds by investment advisers. The rules appear to be somewhat less burdensome than the rules originally proposed in February 2022.
Read MoreBy: Cheryl Isaac and Christine Mikhael
In case you missed it: late last month, the Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market (“ICVCM”) launched its Core Carbon Principles (CCPs) and Program-level Assessment Framework (Framework). With the publication of these new standards (developed with the input of hundreds of stakeholders in the voluntary carbon markets), we now have a set of fundamental principles for high-quality credits that create a verifiable climate impact, and a framework for determining whether carbon credit programs are eligible to label themselves as being in compliance with the CCPs.
Read MoreBy: Richard Kerr and Matthew Rogers
On July 26, 2023, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) proposed new rules (“Proposal”) intended to address certain conflicts of interests associated with the use of “Covered Technology” (defined below) by broker-dealers and investment advisers (“firms”) in investor interactions. If adopted as proposed, firms will be required to (i) identify conflicts of interests when using Covered Technology in interactions with investors, and (ii) adopt policies and procedures to eliminate or neutralize those conflicts of interests.
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.
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