China
The Chinese Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) approved an after-hours futures trading pilot on April 12. So far gold and silver futures have been selected for the pilot programme of after-hours trading. Based on the product features, local market conditions and time difference between the Chinese and overseas markets, Shanghai Futures Exchange plans to schedule the after-hours trading from 21:00pm to 2:30am, Monday to Friday.
After six years of negotiations, Iceland on April 15 became the first European country to sign a free trade agreement (FTA) with China. The agreement and the great benefits it will bring mark a breakthrough that is likely to give a strong impetus to China's FTA talks with the European Union (EU) and other nations in the region
The China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC) unveiled new rules in the week of April 1 to discipline banks’ sales of wealth management products (WMP). These new measures ban the practice of ‘fund pools’ and cap on bank’s non-standard – not publicly traded – credit investment at 35% of its outstanding WMP and 4% of its total assets.
The CSRC and the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (Safe) have started considering applications for the new Renminbi qualified foreign institutional investor (RQFII) products and are expected to hand out more quotas soon.
Hong Kong
The Treasury Markets Association (TMA) announced on April 25 that it has plans to launch the CNH Hong Kong Interbank Offered Rate (CNH Hibor) fixing in June 2013. The CNH Hibor fixing – which will be calculated from rates provided by 15 to 18 reference banks – will include tenors for overnight, one week, two weeks, one month and up to 12 months.
Following global initiatives to regulate high frequency and algorithmic trading, the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) will launch new requirements, under the Code of Conduct for Persons Licensed by or Registered with the SFC (Code of Conduct) and Fund Manager Code of Conduct, to regulate algorithmic traders, in addition to the service providers of internet trading and direct market access (DMA) on January 1, 2014.
India
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has introduced ‘Common Pool’ and ‘Automatic Process’ for selection of arbitrators through stock exchanges. This process has come into effect from April 1, the regulator said in a release on April 4. As all stock exchanges are having nation-wide trading terminals, the regulator advised them to pool the list of arbitrators, and create a common pool, instead of having exchange-wise pools of arbitrators. This pooling of arbitrators is done centre-wise.
Sebi simplified the foreign institutional investor (FII) rules, allowing FIIs to participate in central and corporate bonds effective April 1. Once an FII receives a government bonds quota, it must be utilised within 30 days. Total FII limits will remain the same, but all existing categories of bond investments will be merged into two baskets – one of US$25 billion for government securities and one of US$51 billion for all corporate bonds.
Singapore
The International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA) announced on April 24 the publication of a form of confirmation for a Market Agreed Coupon (MAC) contract as an additional choice for market participants who wish to use over-the-counter (OTC) interest rate swaps (IRS) that have common, pre-agreed terms. The announcement came at the outset of the Association’s 28th Annual General Meeting in Singapore.
Securities regulators in Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia have implemented the Asean [Association of Southeast Asian Nations] Disclosure Standards scheme for multi-jurisdiction offerings of equity and plain-debt securities in the 10-member grouping, the Asean Capital Markets Forum (ACMF) said on April 1. The scheme replaces the Asean and Plus Standards Scheme that was announced on June 12, 2009.
Taiwan
Taiwan will allow mainland banks to buy as much as 15% in unlisted local bank and financial holding companies, the CBRC and the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) said in a joint briefing on April 1. The stake allowed to be invested in a financial holding’s banking unit will be raised to 20%. The rules will take effect in 60 days. There were no specific stake limits for either category previously, but 5% was seen as a cap for regulators.
Thailand
The Bank of Thailand’s (BoT) board of governors on April 25 endorsed the plan for the central bank to invest in state bonds, in a move to spur capital outflows. At present the central bank can invest foreign reserves in only government bonds. This is seen as a measure to balance the excessive inflows into the Kingdom which has boosted the currency by about 6% from end-2012 level.