Global Trustee and Fiduciary Services Bite-Sized Issue 3 2024

Global Trustee and Fiduciary Services Bite-Sized | Issue 3 | 2024 2 QUICK LINKS AIFMD CYBERSECURITY DIGITALISATION DORA EMIR LIBOR FSB IOSCO MICA MIFID II/MIFIR MONEY MARKET FUNDS OPERATIONAL RESILIENCE SUSTAINABLE FINANCE/ESG ASIA EUROPE IRELAND LUXEMBOURG NORTH AMERICA SWITZERLAND UNITED KINGDOM The ASEAN Regional CERT will enable stronger regional cybersecurity incident response coordination and critical information infrastructure (CII) protection cooperation, including for cross-border CII such as banking and finance, communications, aviation and maritime. Its establishment has been endorsed under the ASEAN Cybersecurity Cooperation Strategy (2017-2020). The CSA press release also states that the increasingly sophisticated and fast-evolving nature of transboundary cyber threats would mean that there is also a need for greater capacity building and operational coordination amongst AMS’ national CERTs. Hence, the financial model would also support joint training sessions, cybersecurity exercises and networking of AMS’ national CERTs with INTERPOL, industry and academia, as well as the provision of industry cyber threat feeds to all AMS. In consultation with AMS, Singapore had tabled an Implementation Paper at the 2nd ASEAN Digital Ministers Meeting (ADGMIN) in January 2022, and the Operational Framework at the 3rd ADGMIN in February 2023. AMS had successfully endorsed these documents to move the initiative ahead. The next step, the endorsement of a financial model to ensure sustainable funding of the ASEAN Regional CERT, was achieved at the 4th ADGMIN between 1 and 2 February 2024. Following the endorsement of the financial model, Singapore will continue to work closely with AMS to operationalise the ASEAN Regional CERT to enhance collective cybersecurity within the region. Link to CSAWebpage here DIGITALISATION HKMA Circular on Provision of Custodial Services for Digital Assets On 20 February 2024, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) issued a Circular to Authorised Institutions (AIs). The HKMA states that it has seen AIs increasingly interested in digital asset- related activities, in particular provision of custodial services for digital assets for clients. To ensure that such client digital assets held by AIs in custody are adequately safeguarded and that the risks involved are properly managed, the HKMA states that it considers it necessary to provide guidance on AIs’ provision of digital asset custodial services. With reference to international standards and practices, within its Circular, the HKMA sets out the expected standards in the Annex, which have incorporated flexibility for AIs to put in place operational arrangements that are commensurate with the nature, features and risks of the digital assets under custody. The HKMA says that AIs should apply these standards in safeguarding client digital assets, whether the assets are received in the course of conducting virtual asset (VA)-related activities as an intermediary, distributing tokenised products, or providing standalone custodial services. In addition to the expected standards set out in the Annex, HKMA reminds AIs to also comply with all the applicable legal and regulatory requirements when providing digital asset custodial services. Link to Circular here Digital Assets: Call for Evidence and Draft Legislation On 22 February 2024, the Law Commission launched a call for evidence to inform its project on private international law in the context of digital assets and electronic trade documents. The Law Commission is separately seeking views on draft legislation following its report on digital assets in June 2023. Digital assets and ETDs in private international law In its call for evidence, the Law Commission aims to gain a better understanding of the most challenging and prevalent issues that digitisation, the internet, and distributed ledger technologies pose for private international law. When parties to a private law dispute are based in different countries, or the facts and issues giving rise to the dispute cross national borders, questions of private international law arise: in which country’s courts should the parties litigate their dispute, and which country’s law should be applied to resolve it?