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In 2011, Moody’s Investors Service Hong Kong Limited which along with many associated companies is generally known only as "Moody's," and which has forgone the sobriquet "ratings agency" in favour of the much more honest "ratings organisation", issued a document entitled "Red Flags for Emerging-Market Companies: A Focus on China." Ignoring, for the sake of simplicity, that the document referred to warning signs and not red flags in the true sense, it contained material that the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) decided was not apt. That started a battle which continues.

It's one of the quickest settlements that the USA's Securities and Accounts Commission will ever see. On 27th September, civil proceedings were started. That was Thursday. The proceedings were, it has to be said, no surprise but while the "what" was expected, the "when" was unknown. After all, American prosecutors and regulators enjoy the glare of publicity and trying their cases in the court of public opinion long before they ever get to a court room. But Elon Musk, who is increasingly demonstrating deteriorating judgement in so many ways, is nothing if not decisive. On Saturday, 29th September, the SEC issued a statement: the SEC and Musk had settled and Musk didn't do anywhere near as badly as the SEC had applied for. But there is a sting in the tail.

It's now clear: posting message on social media such as twitter, facebook and instagram is regarded by the USA's Securities and Exchange Commission in the same light as any other statement and the consequences for false or misleading information are the same as any other means of disseminating such information. Elon Musk, hardly a shrinking violet when it comes to grabbing headlines for his various ventures, is the defendant in a civil action brought by the SEC: what happens here will define both how corporations use social media and whether others who have posted material they should not have done will be brought to book.

Media Release : issued 24/09/2018 20:59

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) today published an Enforcement monograph to provide greater clarity and transparency into how MAS deters, detects, investigates and takes action against breaches of the rules and regulations it administers. The monograph outlines how MAS’ Enforcement Department works together with the other financial sector oversight functions in MAS to uphold Singapore’s reputation as a clean and trusted financial centre.

ASIC has taken action to stop several proposed initial coin offerings or token-generation events (together, "ICO"s), targeting retail investors.

It takes something of a cheek to solicit investment in a fraudulent scheme and to publish a website with comments falsely attributed to the Chairman of the Monetary Authority of Singapore who also happens to be the country's deputy prime minister. But as MAS has warned, that's exactly what someone is doing...

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) yesterday issued for consultation proposed requirements for financial institutions (FIs) in Singapore to implement essential cyber security measures to protect their IT systems. These requirements will help FIs strengthen their cyber resilience and guard against cyber attacks, says MAS.

Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has announced that in an agreed settlement before the Federal Court, Australian financial services group Westpac will pay a civil penalty of AUD35 million after admitting breaches of Australia's responsible lending rules. The door-of-the-court settlement avoids a lengthy trial that should have started yesterday.

*** Update: see Westpac's new best friend? Australian Federal Court rejects settlement with regulator ***

Australia's ASIC has undertaken an extensive review of so-called "reverse mortgages" which are actual mortgages with potentially catastrophic long-tail results, which may be one of the things that borrowers did not understand. The findings of the review are startling.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore has made a surprising change to the way in which Regulations are published, making the MAS website, and not paper documents, the source of record.

In a three year credit deal, the EBRD is lending USD (not euros, which might seem weird) to Bank CenterCredit (BCC - no comments please). The total amount is for a maximum of USD45 million. Special provisions are made for businesses run by women.

* Three-year loan of up to USD40 million provided to domestic small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)
* Three-year loan of up to USD5 million under Kazakhstan Women in Business programme

On Friday 13th July 2018, the UK's Serious Fraud Office obtained, from a Magistrates' Court, a warrant for the arrest of Benedikt Sobotka has been issued over his failure to appear for questioning in an ongoing corruption investigation into ENRC and related companies. Failure to appear when required to do so is itself a criminal offence, independent of the allegations under investigation.

AUSTRAC has released a consultation paper relating to counter-money laundering regulations in the securities sector.

Mobile payments are exploited by criminals who use services such as AliPay and WePay coupled with QR codes and while the companies behind the services are, well, behind on customer protection, The People's Bank of China, the central bank, is running ahead of regulators in other jurisdictions to find a solution. Their first idea was harsh. Their second is brutal. Can it work?