[Mainland China]
Chinese regulator vows to crack down on private equity, venture capital funds
Business
Times, 1 Sept 2021
The China Securities Regulatory Commission
will work to root out "fake" private equity funds that are actually
sold to the general public instead of targeted investors, chairman Yi Huiman
said in a speech to a fund industry association. The CSRC will also crack down
on money managers that illicitly take public deposits, offer loans or embezzle
fund assets. The watchdog's focus has been on issues including compliance,
liquidity risks and illegal fundraising. In the 2019 probe of 497 private
funds, regulators found malpractices such as borrowing new money to repay
existing investors, raising money from disqualified investors and promising
guaranteed returns. Regulators have in the meantime encouraged the development
of private equity funds as a channel of direct financing to support the
economy.
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[Mainland China] Robust
demand seen for financial products in Greater Bay Area
China Daily, 1 Sept 2021
The Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay
Area is showing robust demand for more diversified and in-depth cross-border
financial services and products, said a survey led by a unit of the People's
Bank of China. The Financial Society of Shenzhen Special Economic Zone, a
research institute led by the Shenzhen Central Sub-branch of the PBOC,
published a report on Aug 28 based on a survey of more than 20,000 people and
about 700 representative firms across the border. Its data showed the three
most popular Hong Kong investment tools for Guangdong residents are funding,
insurance and stock products. With the expansion of cross-border stock and bond
channels, more than half the people in the area foresee enlarging their stock
investment targets.
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[Singapore] FOMO Pay
obtains new MAS licences to operate three more regulated activities
Business
Times, 1 Sept 2021
Singapore
fintech FOMO Pay has obtained new licences from the Monetary Authority of
Singapore to operate three new regulated activities. Starting from Wednesday,
merchants will be able to leverage FOMO Pay's services to accept and process
payment transactions. FOMO Pay will also be able to carry out local money
transfer services in Singapore for its clients, as well as facilitate
transactions with digital payment tokens - including cryptocurrency and the
central bank digital currency (CBDC).
Full
text: click here
[Singapore & Hong
Kong] Singapore stays one step ahead of HK in SPAC race
The Standard, 2 Sept 2021
The Singapore Exchange is preparing to roll
out easier rules for listings of special purpose acquisition companies (SPAC),
while the Hong Kong bourse has yet to conduct a public consultation on such
action. The move will make Singapore the first major Asian stock exchange to
accept such investment vehicles. Singapore Exchange's regulatory arm is now
said to be considering easing a minimum S$300-million market value proposal for
SPACs along with a proposal to rule that warrants cannot be detached from
underlying shares.
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