Global Trustee and Fiduciary Services Bite-Sized Issue 9 2024

6 QUICK LINKS AI DORA FUND LIQUIDITY MIFID II/MIFIR SUSTAINABLE FINANCE/ ESG TOKENISATION AUSTRALIA ASIA EUROPE NORTH AMERICA UNITED KINGDOM Global Trustee and Fiduciary Services Bite-Sized | Issue 9 | 2024 ASIA SFC Issues NewGuides for Visiting and Returning Professionals to Highlight Pragmatic Licensing Options On 2 September 2024, the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) published two new quick reference guides to assist visiting and returning professionals in understanding the SFC’s pragmatic licensing regime, complementing the five popular quick reference guides published in 2023. Illustratingwith case studies, the SFC says that the two newguides offer useful information about licensing options and processes as well as various conditions for examination exemptions, to facilitate a smooth and compliant transition to the Hong Kong financial markets for these professionals. The SFC states that it plans to organise workshops later this year to help the industry better understand its licensing policies and recent initiatives. Additionally, the SFC has updated the Chinese version of the quick reference guide for Mainland practitioner’s, and released a new English version. Link to Quick Reference Guides here Equities Market ReviewGroup Convenes Inaugural Meeting, Identifies Priority Areas, and Announces Members of Workstreams On 27 August 2024, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) announced that the Equities Market Review Group held its inaugural meeting on 19 August, chaired by Mr Chee Hong Tat, Minister for Transport, Second Minister for Finance and Deputy Chairman of the MAS. The meeting discussed key challenges and opportunities facing Singapore’s equities market and set out its strategic direction for the review. In its press release, MAS states that at the meeting, the Review Group identified the following priority areas for the two workstreams: a. The Enterprise and Markets workstream will focus on ideas to encourage listings, increase Investor participation, improve trading liquidity, and facilitate fair valuation for listed equities. b. The Regulatory workstream will study ideas to streamline the regulatory framework, improve the listing process, enhance the effectiveness of Singapore’s disclosure-based regime, and strengthen corporate governance standards, investor access and recourse. The Review Group and its two workstreams will provide periodic updates on their considerations and recommendations. MAS says that they will engage stakeholders in the coming months through industry roundtables and focus group discussions to gather feedback and ideas, and assess the actions required fromGovernment agencies and industry partners to enhance Singapore’s equities market. MAS also states that while the reviewwill take up to 12months, the ReviewGroup and workstreams aim to announce their recommendations in phases, so that the proposed measures can be implemented as soon as possible. Link to MASWebsite here