Global Regulator & Central Bank News Roundup
Edition 172026Week of April 27
Global developments
The Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures published a Brief based on 2024 Red Book statistics, finding that cashless payments continued to grow globally while cash in circulation broadly stabilised. Growth was driven mainly by credit transfers in emerging market and developing economies and card payments in advanced economies, while fast payments gained further ground. Cash withdrawals continued to decline, indicating that cash remains relevant as a means of payment, store of value, or both.
The Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures published a Brief using 2024 Red Book statistics showing that cashless payments continued to grow globally, while cash in circulation broadly stabilised and cash withdrawals continued to decline. The update points to further digitalisation of retail payments, with different growth patterns across economies, but also shows that cash remains relevant as a means of payment, a store of value, or both. The statistics were collected from CPMI member jurisdictions and cover jurisdictions representing 59% of the world’s population and 85% of global GDP. In emerging market and developing economies, annual cashless payments per capita increased by 21% to 242, driven mainly by credit transfers and, in many jurisdictions, fast payments. In advanced economies, annual cashless payments per capita rose by 6% to 579, with growth mainly driven by card payments, which averaged 361 payments per person compared with 95 in emerging market and developing economies. Credit transfers continued to account for the largest share of cashless payment values, representing 86% in advanced economies and 94% in emerging market and developing economies. Fast payments gained further ground, especially in emerging market and developing economies, where they increased to 49% of total cashless payments from 43%, while remaining around 10% in advanced economies. Cash in circulation decreased slightly or stabilised in most CPMI jurisdictions, averaging about 9% of GDP in advanced economies and around 6% in emerging market and developing economies. Cash withdrawals as a percentage of GDP declined in most jurisdictions, and consumers generally withdrew cash less often but in larger amounts. The network of traditional cash access points, including automated teller machines and branches, continued to shrink in some jurisdictions but stabilised in others. The Brief further notes that lower cash access density and falling cash withdrawals are correlated in some cases, but the Red Book statistics do not establish causality and broader digitalisation may be a common driver.
The Financial Stability Institute of the Bank for International Settlements published a brief examining how digitalisation and innovation can support financial health while creating consumer and market conduct risks. It finds that while digital payments, alternative data, artificial intelligence, digital savings tools and insurtech can broaden access, financial health trends remain mixed, with key risks including an estimated USD 1 trillion in global scam losses, overindebtedness among digital borrowers, unsuitable investment products and reduced access to non-digital services, and calls for stronger financial health measurement, consumer protection, digital lender supervision, fraud prevention and liability regimes, oversight of artificial intelligence and digital engagement practices, and inclusive digital public infrastructures.
The Financial Stability Institute of the Bank for International Settlements published a brief examining how digitalisation and innovation can support financial health while creating new consumer and market conduct risks. The brief concludes that digital payments, alternative data, artificial intelligence, digital savings tools and insurtech can improve access to payments, credit, savings, investment and insurance, but these benefits are emerging alongside fraud and scams, overindebtedness among some digital borrowers, unsuitable investment products and reduced access to non-digital financial services. The brief notes that aggregate financial health trends are mixed, with indicators deteriorating in some countries despite wider adoption of digital finance. It highlights evidence that fast payment systems, now available in more than 135 jurisdictions, can support formal saving, digital finance use and income growth, while alternative data and artificial intelligence can expand credit access. The main risks include an estimated USD 1 trillion in global scam losses, higher arrears among some digital loan users, retail investor exposure to artificial intelligence tools and digital engagement practices, crypto-related losses and declining access to cash, branches and in-person services. In response to these challenges, the briefs calls for a more holistic framework that preserves the benefits of digitalisation while addressing conduct, consumer protection and inclusion risks. This includes strengthening financial health measurement through robust, disaggregated indicators that combine objective metrics, such as savings levels, debt-to-income ratios and use of overdrafts or revolving credit, with subjective measures of confidence and financial security. It also points to targeted interventions already emerging across jurisdictions, including fraud prevention measures, customer awareness initiatives, strong customer authentication, supervision of banks’ fraud risk management, cross-border cooperation and liability frameworks such as Singapore’s shared responsibility framework for phishing losses and the United Kingdom’s authorised push payment scams reimbursement regime. For digital lending, the brief highlights licensing and registration requirements, disclosure obligations, responsible business conduct rules, redress mechanisms, data privacy safeguards and measures to curb overindebtedness, highlighting examples such as Nigeria’s prohibition on pre-authorised or automatic lending. In retail markets, it calls for closer oversight of artificial intelligence tools, finfluencers, copy trading and digital engagement practices that may encourage unsuitable or excessive risk-taking. More broadly, the brief emphasises that digital public infrastructures, including digital identity, fast payment systems and data-sharing frameworks, should be designed with strong governance, interoperability, consumer protection and inclusive access so that digital finance supports measurable financial health outcomes rather than simply expanding usage.
The Financial Stability Board published final guidance on how authorities should identify insurers subject to recovery and resolution planning requirements under the Key Attributes, without creating a new standard or reviving the global systemically important insurer process. The guidance sets out six assessment criteria: nature, scale, complexity, substitutability, cross-border activities and interconnectedness. It also specifies that recovery and resolution planning should apply where an insurer provides a critical function that cannot be readily substituted, or where its failure would significantly affect the financial system, the real economy, or both.
Following consultation, the Financial Stability Board (FSB) has published its final guidance on how authorities should identify insurers that should be subject to recovery and resolution planning requirements under the Key Attributes. The guidance does not create a new standard, revise the Key Attributes, or revive the discontinued global systemically important insurer identification process. Instead, it gives national supervisory or resolution authorities a structured approach to assessing insurers that could be systemically significant or critical upon failure, or that could affect financial stability if they fail. Under the final guidance, authorities should assess insurers using six distinct criteria: nature, scale, complexity, substitutability, cross-border activities, and interconnectedness. Nature covers the insurer’s business model, operational structure, activities, product mix and risk profile. Scale addresses the insurer’s absolute and relative size, including indicators such as assets, liabilities, gross written premiums, market share and policyholder base. Complexity covers legal, financial, operational, group and cross-border features that could make supervision or resolution harder while substitutability assesses whether the insurer’s products, services or activities can be replaced by other providers within reasonable time and cost. Cross-border activities relate to foreign operations, exposures, branches, subsidiaries and coordination challenges across jurisdictions and interconnectedness encompasses links to other financial institutions, counterparties, markets and infrastructure, including through reinsurance, guarantees, concentrated exposures, short-term funding or repo market reliance. The criteria should be considered distinctly, and the guidance does not prescribe fixed thresholds or require all six criteria to be met. At a minimum, recovery and resolution planning should apply where an insurer provides a critical function to unaffiliated third parties that cannot be substituted within reasonable time and cost, or where its failure is likely to have a significant impact on the financial system and/or the real economy of the jurisdiction. This includes cases where failure would materially affect a large number of policyholders, cause systemic disruption, or lead to a loss of general confidence in the insurance sector or wider financial system.
Active global consultations
The Board of the International Organization of Securities Commissions is consulting on proposed good practices to strengthen oversight of over-the-counter commodity derivatives markets by supporting the effective implementation of Principles 12, 15 and 16 on OTC data collection, intervention powers and responses to disorderly markets. The consultation responds to IOSCO’s finding that commodity market participants often hold linked positions across exchange-traded, OTC and physical markets, creating risks to price formation, volatility and market integrity when Market Authorities lack timely visibility over large or concentrated positions, including positions held under common ownership and control. The proposed practices address three areas: collection and aggregation of OTC and exchange trading activity, with a proportionate and risk-sensitive focus on beneficial ownership data, critical or significant contracts, related OTC contracts and factors such as market interdependence, size, liquidity and existing controls; preventing or addressing disorderly markets, including expectations that regulators have effective powers to intervene in relevant OTC markets and that exchanges use available information and position management tools to protect orderly trading; and information sharing and cooperation, including stronger communication between exchanges and regulators, among regulators and through cross-border mechanisms during market stress. The practices also emphasize stringent safeguards for sensitive OTC data and transparent intervention policies so oversight can improve market integrity without unnecessary or duplicative reporting burdens.
The Board of the International Organization of Securities Commissions is consulting on proposed good practices to strengthen oversight of over-the-counter commodity derivatives markets by supporting the effective implementation of Principles 12, 15 and 16 on OTC data collection, intervention powers and responses to disorderly markets. The consultation responds to IOSCO’s finding that commodity market participants often hold linked positions across exchange-traded, OTC and physical markets, creating risks to price formation, volatility and market integrity when Market Authorities lack timely visibility over large or concentrated positions, including positions held under common ownership and control. The proposed practices address three areas: collection and aggregation of OTC and exchange trading activity, with a proportionate and risk-sensitive focus on beneficial ownership data, critical or significant contracts, related OTC contracts and factors such as market interdependence, size, liquidity and existing controls; preventing or addressing disorderly markets, including expectations that regulators have effective powers to intervene in relevant OTC markets and that exchanges use available information and position management tools to protect orderly trading; and information sharing and cooperation, including stronger communication between exchanges and regulators, among regulators and through cross-border mechanisms during market stress. The practices also emphasize stringent safeguards for sensitive OTC data and transparent intervention policies so oversight can improve market integrity without unnecessary or duplicative reporting burdens.
Regional developments
The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority called on banks, insurers and superannuation trustees to strengthen AI risk management, governance, assurance and operational resilience. A supervisory review found AI adoption moving into embedded and customer-facing uses while board oversight, information security, supplier risk controls and assurance practices have not kept pace. APRA is not proposing additional requirements at this stage but expects significant improvement under existing prudential standards.
The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) has published an industry letter calling on banks, insurers and superannuation trustees to materially strengthen how they govern, manage and assure AI-related risks. A targeted supervisory review of selected large entities found that AI adoption is moving into operationally embedded and customer-facing uses, while governance, risk management, assurance and operational resilience practices are not keeping pace with the scale, speed and complexity of deployment. APRA identified weaknesses across board oversight, information security, supplier risk and assurance. Boards showed strong interest in AI benefits but many lacked the technical literacy to challenge management effectively, with some overreliance on vendor material. Cyber and operational risks include prompt injection, data leakage, insecure integrations, exploit injection and misuse of autonomous AI agents, while frontier AI models such as Anthropic Mythos are expected to increase the probability, speed and scale of cyber attacks. Supplier issues include dependence on single providers across multiple AI use cases, opaque upstream dependencies and limited contingency, exit or substitution planning. APRA expects entities to maintain AI inventories, assign lifecycle accountability, align AI strategy with risk appetite, ensure human involvement in high-risk decisions, strengthen controls over AI-specific threats, map third- and fourth-party dependencies and adopt continuous, integrated assurance proportionate to the criticality of AI use cases. APRA is not proposing additional requirements at this stage, but expects a significant improvement in entities’ ability to monitor and control AI risks under existing prudential standards. It is finalising a forward supervisory plan covering prudential reviews, thematic work and AI supplier engagement, and will consider further policy action where needed.
Malaysia's Securities Commission, in collaboration with Khazanah Nasional Berhad, Malaysia’s sovereign wealth fund, completed Malaysia’s first tokenised sukuk pilot through the successful pricing of a MYR 100 million sukuk. The transaction used Distributed Ledger Technology to create a digital representation of a sukuk and assessed institutional readiness for tokenised sukuk workflows across the issuance value chain.
Securities Commission Malaysia, in collaboration with Khazanah Nasional Berhad, Malaysia’s sovereign wealth fund, completed Malaysia’s first tokenised sukuk pilot through the successful pricing of a MYR 100 million sukuk. Using Distributed Ledger Technology, the transaction created a digital representation of a sukuk, supporting more efficient and transparent issuance and management of capital market instruments. The pilot also assessed institutional readiness for tokenised sukuk workflows across the issuance value chain and is intended to provide a functional template for future corporate issuers. The issuance forms part of Khazanah’s Sukuk Danum Programme, an Islamic Medium-Term Notes programme of up to MYR 20.0 billion in nominal value. The inaugural tokenised tranche has a one-year tenure and is structured under the Shariah principle of Wakalah bi al-Istithmar, an agency-based investment arrangement. The transaction was executed under the Securities Commission Malaysia’s pilot programme for market innovation and involved key financial institutions and institutional investors.
The Monetary Authority of Singapore will proceed with Securities and Futures Act amendments to facilitate Singapore Exchange Global Listing Board dual listings, including the SGX and Nasdaq partnership. The framework allows a single set of offer documents aligned with U.S. disclosure requirements, earlier prospectus registration and investor engagement, due diligence flexibility, and safe harbours for forward-looking statements, share repurchases and pre-determined trading plans.
The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) issued its response to feedback on proposed Securities and Futures Act amendments to support dual listings on the Singapore Exchange through the Global Listing Board, including the SGX and Nasdaq partnership. The framework is intended to streamline concurrent offerings by allowing Global Listing Board issuers to use a single set of offer documents aligned with U.S. disclosure requirements, while retaining key Singapore liability provisions for false or misleading statements and market misconduct. MAS will proceed with a new Part 13A of the Securities and Futures Act to enable tailored rules for dual listings with overseas exchanges in jurisdictions with IOSCO-comparable disclosure and enforcement standards. For Global Listing Board offers, MAS will streamline prospectus and offer information statement requirements, disapply the general Singapore prospectus disclosure requirement, allow earlier prospectus registration, dispense with lodgment of documents incorporated by reference while requiring hyperlinks, and permit testing-the-waters engagements, free writing prospectuses and pre-deal investor education for institutional and accredited investors where aligned with U.S. rules. It will also allow issue managers to adopt alternative due diligence steps where appropriate for Global Listing Board listings. The framework will incorporate safe harbours for forward-looking statements, share repurchases and pre-determined trading plans, with scope to use them as defences to specified Securities and Futures Act market misconduct provisions for relevant trading activities in both markets. MAS is also prepared to consider exemptions for price stabilisation actions conducted broadly consistently with U.S. Regulation M, will introduce relief for certain third-party SEC EDGAR filings reproduced on SGXNet, and will proceed with general amendments such as permitting earlier retail investor engagement using a preliminary prospectus.
Thailand's Securities and Exchange Commission is consulting on proposed amendments to prohibited characteristics for major shareholders of securities, derivatives, and digital asset business operators. The proposals would align shareholder screening across these sectors and expand disqualifying conduct to include overseas anti-money laundering offenses, domestic and overseas terrorist financing and proliferation financing offenses, and serious misconduct under SEC-supervised laws.
Thailand's Securities and Exchange Commission is seeking public comments on proposed amendments to the prohibited characteristics of major shareholders of securities business operators, derivatives business operators, and digital asset business operators. The proposals would broaden and align the screening framework across these sectors to address risks from cross-sector business activity, transnational financial crime, money laundering, terrorist financing, and proliferation financing. The proposed changes would expand consideration of anti-money laundering offenses to include overseas offenses, add domestic and overseas offenses relating to terrorist financing and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, and cover serious misconduct under all laws supervised by the SEC. Specific prohibited characteristics would include being accused, prosecuted, sanctioned or convicted for relevant offenses, being subject to civil sanctions for unfair trading or fraudulent management, being removed or deemed untrustworthy as a director or executive, intentionally providing materially false or incomplete information to the SEC, lacking business ethics or professional standards, or being suspended, revoked or otherwise barred by a domestic or foreign financial regulator from acting as a business operator, director, executive or major shareholder. The amendments would also align the assessment of the seriousness of conduct for major shareholders of derivatives business operators with the approach for securities and digital asset business operators, using factors such as the scope of impact, significance of the conduct, beneficiary, degree of involvement, complexity, prior misconduct, intentional disregard of applicable rules and subsequent behavior.
The Securities and Exchange Board of India has operationalised a fast-track mechanism allowing Angel Funds and Alternative Investment Fund schemes other than Large Value Funds for accredited investors to launch and circulate private placement memoranda 30 days after filing with SEBI, unless advised otherwise. The process replaces the sequential review-and-resubmission model with a 30-day waiting period subject to SEBI intervention.
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has operationalised a fast-track mechanism for processing private placement memoranda filed by Angel Funds and Alternative Investment Fund schemes other than Large Value Funds (LVF) for accredited investors. The mechanism allows these non-LVF schemes to launch and circulate their private placement memoranda to investors for soliciting funds after 30 days of filing the application with SEBI, unless SEBI advises otherwise. The new process shifts non-LVF schemes from a sequential SEBI review-and-resubmission process to a 30-day waiting period before launch, subject to SEBI intervention. Any SEBI comments received during that period must be addressed by the merchant banker or the AIF before the scheme is launched or the placement memorandum is circulated. For an AIF’s first scheme, the same 30-day route applies only after SEBI registration has been granted, so launch can occur from the registration date or after 30 days of filing, whichever is later.
The Central Bank of the Philippines has amended regulations for banks and non-bank financial institutions to strengthen off-site surveillance and risk assessment of information and cybersecurity. The changes replace the IT Rating System with the Supervisory Assessment Framework, introduce the Cybersecurity Maturity Framework, and require covered supervised financial institutions to complete the Cybersecurity Control Self-Assessment. Maturity will be assessed across four tiers linked to each institution’s IT profile.
The Central Bank of the Philippines has issued amendments to its regulations for banks and non-bank financial institutions to strengthen off-site surveillance and risk assessment of information and cybersecurity. The amendments replace the IT Rating System with the Supervisory Assessment Framework, introduce the Cybersecurity Maturity Framework, and require the Cybersecurity Control Self-Assessment for covered Bangko Sentral-supervised financial institutions. The framework will assess cybersecurity maturity across four tiers: Foundational, Established, Managed and Optimized. Expected maturity levels are linked to each institution’s IT profile, with Simple institutions expected to fall between Foundational and Established, Moderate institutions between Established and Managed, and Complex institutions between Managed and Optimized. The annual CCSA must be submitted by institutions notified as having a Moderate or Complex IT Profile, and by other institutions specifically identified by the Central Bank.
The European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority published its April 2026 risk dashboards, showing stable medium-level risks for insurers but a higher risk profile for European Economic Area institutions for occupational retirement provision. Market risks have an increasing outlook for insurers, while market and asset return risks for IORPs rose to high level amid bond and equity volatility. Geopolitical uncertainty, including the conflict in Iran and potential energy price effects, continues to shape the outlook across both sectors.
The European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority published its April 2026 risk dashboards for the European insurance sector and European Economic Area institutions for occupational retirement provision, showing broadly stable medium-level risks for insurers but a higher risk profile for IORPs, where market and asset return risks increased to a high level. Geopolitical uncertainty, including the conflict in Iran and possible effects on energy prices, is shaping the macroeconomic and market outlook across both sectors. For insurers, macro, credit, liquidity and funding, profitability and solvency, insurance, ESG, and digitalisation and cyber risks remain at medium level. Market risks are elevated with an increasing outlook, driven by higher bond and equity volatility. Capital positions strengthened modestly, with median solvency ratios rising to 220% for insurance groups, 244% for life undertakings, and 219% for non-life undertakings. Insurance risks remain supported by strong premium growth, with life premiums up 6.6% and non-life premiums up 4.6%, although uncertainty persists around marine, aviation, and trade-related claims. For IORPs, market and asset return risks rose to high level as equity and bond market volatility spiked by end-March 2026. Liquidity risks remain medium with an increasing trend linked to more negative derivative positions, while reserve and funding risks for defined benefit schemes remain low after funding ratios strengthened to 128.4%. Digitalisation and cyber risks remain medium, with supervisors assessing their materiality as increasing amid continued geopolitical tensions.
The European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority will launch a second joint mystery shopping exercise in the European insurance sector with focus on online sales of non-life insurance products. The exercise will be coordinated across 10 Member States using a common methodology and trained prospective consumers. Results are expected for the first half of 2027.
The European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) has agreed to launch a second joint mystery shopping exercise in Europe’s insurance sector, shifting the focus from insurance-based investment products to the online sales of non-life insurance products. Coordinated by EIOPA, the exercise will run across 10 Member States using a common methodology developed by EIOPA and its Members. The programme uses trained individuals acting as prospective consumers to evaluate the sales journey and generate structured insights into consumer outcomes and potential risks and opportunities in digital distribution. EIOPA expects to publish the results of the coordinated exercise in the first half of 2027.
The Financial Conduct Authority finalised guidance and rules enabling UK authorised funds to use distributed ledger technology for tokenised registers and adopt an optional Direct to Fund dealing model. The framework allows on-chain records to serve as primary books and records where firms retain control and manage key risks, and gives Direct to Fund adopters a single-stage alternative to the authorised fund manager’s box, subject to reconciliation, attribution and segregated liability controls for issue and cancellation accounts.
The Financial Conduct Authority has finalised guidance and rules that give UK authorised funds a more workable framework for tokenisation while keeping the model within existing fund regulation. The guidance clarifies that a fund’s on-chain distributed ledger technology record can serve as the primary books and records for unit transactions, without a full off-chain mirror, if the responsible firm retains effective control of the register, can correct entries, verify investor eligibility and manage data, outage and network risks. It also confirms that public or consortium networks, and multiple blockchains within the same unit class, can be used where the units carry the same rights and charges and the firm’s controls meet existing requirements. The rules complement that register framework by introducing an optional Direct to Fund dealing model across authorised fund types, including UCITS schemes, non-UCITS retail schemes, long-term asset funds and qualified investor schemes. Under this model, subscriptions and redemptions are processed through a single-stage issue or cancellation of units directly with the fund, rather than through the authorised fund manager’s box. This is intended to make conventional and tokenised fund operations more efficient, and to support atomic settlement for newly issued tokenised units. The main operational constraint is the treatment of cash used for Direct to Fund dealing. Investor money passing through an issue and cancellation account is treated as scheme property, so the final rules focus on reconciliation, attribution and sub-fund segregation rather than moving unmatched sums into a client money account. Managers must reconcile the account daily, or as often as the fund deals, promptly allocate money to the relevant fund or sub-fund, record unmatched amounts as unattributed scheme money and instruct their return by the close of the fifth business day after receipt. Omnibus accounts remain limited by protected cell and trust-law requirements: firms must obtain legal advice that the model complies, and many umbrella funds may need individual sub-fund accounts unless further work with HM Treasury provides a clearer legislative basis for broader use. The rules and guidance entered into force with immediate effect.
Authorities from across Bulgaria, Slovenia, Croatia, Slovakia, Poland, Romania, Hungary and North Macedonia have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to coordinate regulation and supervision of regional capital markets. The MoU establishes a framework for closer cooperation, including identifying regulatory gaps and harmonising rules, and builds on an August 2025 cooperation agreement among the countries’ finance ministers on regional market integration in Central and South-Eastern Europe.
A Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation for coordinated regulation and supervision of regional capital markets has been signed by regulators covering markets operating in Slovenia, Croatia, Slovakia, Poland, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary and North Macedonia. The MoU is intended to support an initiative proposed by regulated markets in the region and adopted in November 2024, aiming to align how authorities exercise their supervisory and regulatory competences. The agreement sets a framework for closer regional cooperation in defining and implementing key initiatives for the development of regional capital markets. Among other things, it provides for identifying regulatory gaps and carrying out activities to harmonise the rules governing capital markets, supported by more frequent coordination and occasional meetings. The MoU follows an August 2025 cooperation agreement signed by the finance ministers of the same countries on regional market integration in Central and South-Eastern Europe, signalling high-level political backing for capital markets development activities.
The Malta Financial Services Authority published three Dear CEO letters on complaints handling at credit institutions, insurance undertakings and investment firms. The review identified market-wide weaknesses in governance, transparency, record-keeping, root cause analysis, timelines and communication with complainants.
The Malta Financial Services Authority published three Dear CEO letters setting out the outcomes of its Outcomes-Based Supervision thematic review of complaints handling at credit institutions, insurance undertakings and investment firms. The review identified market-wide weaknesses in governance, transparency, record-keeping, root cause analysis, timelines and communication with complainants, with firms expected to strengthen complaints handling as part of conduct risk management and consumer protection. Specifically, the review identified shortcomings in complaints policies, including outdated documentation, weak version control, fragmented procedures and insufficient senior management approval. It also found gaps in complaints registers, internal follow-up and root cause analysis, limiting firms’ ability to identify recurring issues and support effective remediation. Separate concerns related to unclear or inaccessible website disclosures, delays or inconsistencies in complaint timelines, limited reasoning in final decisions, incomplete information on escalation to the Office of the Arbiter for Financial Services, and cross-border weaknesses involving language, distribution arrangements and allocation of responsibility. Entities have been given one year to address the identified shortcomings. Follow-up supervisory assessments are planned during 2027.
The National Securities Commission of Argentina is consulting on reforms to reduce issuance and fund authorization burdens through expanded automatic public offering regimes, filing-based processes and ex-post supervision. Separately, it also proposes broadening the tokenization framework for negotiable securities with public offering and extending the regulatory sandbox until December 31, 2027. The reform would allow eligible securities issued under automatic public offering authorization regimes, including low-impact and expanded medium-impact regimes, while excluding automatic authorization regimes applicable to open-end mutual funds.
Argentina's National Securities Commission has launched consultations on a broad reduction of issuance and fund authorization burdens, centred on expanded automatic public offering regimes and the replacement of prior approvals with filing, publication and ex-post supervision. The proposals would create expanded automatic authorization routes of up to UVA 100 million for shares, negotiable obligations, financial trusts and closed-end mutual funds, with no cap for certain qualified-investor-only offerings. They would also allow open-end mutual funds to launch and amend management regulations without prior or subsequent approval, and remove prior approval for specified prospectus updates, extensions, amount increases and terms amendments for global programs, frequent issuers, standalone negotiable obligations and SME programs. Separately, the Commission is consulting on changes to the tokenization framework to broaden the regime for digital representation of negotiable securities with public offering and extend the regulatory sandbox until December 31, 2027. The reform would move the tokenization framework beyond its current narrower scope by allowing eligible securities issued under automatic public offering authorization regimes to be digitally represented, including low-impact securities and the expanded medium-impact regime, while excluding automatic authorization regimes applicable to open-end mutual funds. The expanded regime would cover shares, negotiable obligations, debt securities and participation certificates of financial trusts, and units of closed-end mutual funds with public offering. For closed-end funds, tokenization would no longer be limited to loan-based investment funds and would instead extend to all such funds eligible for automatic public offering authorization. Low-impact issuers could use the regime only where they voluntarily prepare a prospectus and request authorization for digital representation. The draft also updates the operating framework for tokenized securities, including conditions for the use of distributed ledger or similar technology, the role of registered virtual asset service providers, limits on transfers outside participating providers and decentralized protocols, voting traceability and blocking, holding certificates, and the National Securities Commission's suspension powers.
The Abu Dhabi Global Market Financial Services Regulatory Authority finalised a framework allowing Authorised Persons to stake Clients’ Virtual Assets in defined circumstances. The rules require prior notification to the regulator, limit staking and rewards to specified Accepted Virtual Assets and Accepted Fiat-Referenced Tokens, and set client disclosure, reporting, and third-party Staking Service Provider oversight requirements.
Following consultation in 2025, the Abu Dhabi Global Market Financial Services Regulatory Authority (ADGM FSRA) has finalised a framework allowing Authorised Persons to stake Clients’ Virtual Assets in defined circumstances. The framework sets the regulatory perimeter for client staking activity, including which firms may provide it, which assets may be staked, what rewards may be paid, and what client protection requirements must be met. Under the final rules, an Authorised Person may stake Clients’ Virtual Assets only after notifying the regulator and providing any requested information demonstrating that it can meet the relevant requirements. Staked assets must be Accepted Virtual Assets, and rewards must consist only of Accepted Virtual Assets or Accepted Fiat-Referenced Tokens. Firms with permission to Provide Custody or Manage Assets may stake on client instruction, while firms with permission to Manage Assets may also stake at their discretion. The framework also extends beyond Proof-of-Stake models to non-Proof-of-Stake staking arrangements with materially similar characteristics. The rules require firms to provide clients with key terms before staking, including how the assets will be staked, the applicable staking period, withdrawal arrangements, and relevant limitations. Firms must also disclose risks such as withdrawal delays, failure to meet uptime standards, slashing or analogous events, third-party Staking Service Provider involvement, reward calculation and payment arrangements, and all fees and charges. Ongoing client information must cover staked assets, rewards earned, losses from slashing or analogous events, uptime, fees and charges, and the remaining period for which assets remain committed to staking. Where a third-party Staking Service Provider is used, the Authorised Person must conduct due diligence, enter into a written agreement, and perform ongoing performance monitoring.
The Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates, the Federal Authority for Identity, Citizenship, Customs and Port Security, and Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank launched digital bank account opening through the Tourist Identity initiative for non-resident visitors. The service enables visitors to open accounts within minutes and access digital debit cards, and other solutions such as the national payment scheme Jaywan and instant payment platform Aani.
The Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates, in collaboration with the Federal Authority for Identity, Citizenship, Customs and Port Security (ICP) and Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, launched digital bank account opening services through the Tourist Identity initiative, enabling non-resident visitors to open digital bank accounts instantly and securely using a trusted digital identity. The service integrates the ICP platform with ADCB’s mobile banking application, using technologies including biometrics and facial recognition. Visitors can open accounts within minutes and access banking services including digital debit cards, with links to the national payment scheme Jaywan and instant payment platform Aani. The initiative is intended to support digital payments adoption, strengthen consumer protection frameworks and reduce reliance on cash transactions.
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Paul S. Atkins said staff are evaluating near-term rule proposals to help companies, especially smaller businesses, go public and remain public. Potential measures include a longer IPO on-ramp, broader shelf registration access for small public companies, and optional quarterly or semiannual reporting.
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Paul S. Atkins said staff have been instructed to evaluate near-term rule proposals intended to help companies, particularly smaller businesses, go public and remain public. The potential measures include a regulatory IPO on-ramp that would not automatically end five years after listing, broader access for small public companies to shelf registration, and an option for companies to file regulatory reports quarterly or semiannually. Atkins framed the work around a diminished IPO pipeline, which he said has fallen by roughly 40 percent since the mid-1990s, and argued that accumulated rulemaking has made public listing and ongoing public-company compliance more burdensome. Commissioner Hester M. Peirce separately noted that the Small Business Capital Formation Advisory Committee was asked to inform the SEC’s work by considering the practical barriers to IPOs, including underwriter access, management time diverted to IPO-related work, the expected duration of the process, execution risk, and ways to shorten the IPO process without losing its discipline and rigor.
The Ontario Securities Commission is consulting on fee rule amendments that would reduce fees for most smaller issuers and registrant firms, cut most prospectus filing fees by about 21%, and raise fees for larger market participants, crypto asset trading platforms and specified regulated entities. The package is expected to increase average annual revenues by CAD 16.0 million from April 2027 to March 2030 while consolidating lower fee tiers so about 57% of issuers and registrant firms pay CAD 750 or less.
The Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) has published proposed amendments to its fee rules that would reduce fees for most smaller issuers and registrant firms, lower most prospectus filing fees by approximately 21%, and recalibrate fees upward for larger market participants, crypto asset trading platforms and specified regulated entities. The package is intended to address a funding gap, expected to increase average annual OSC revenues by CAD 16.0 million from April 2027 to March 2030, while also contributing to greater balance and proportionality in fee rules including with a view to accommodating for evolving complexity in the supervision of certain participants such as crypto asset trading platforms, and supporting capital formation. Specifically, the proposal would consolidate the bottom participation fee tiers so that about 57% of issuers and registrant firms pay the lowest annual participation fee of CAD 750 or less, and would reduce fees for registrant firms with Ontario specified revenues between CAD 0.5 million and under CAD 1.0 million from CAD 3,200 to CAD 2,000. At the top end, new issuer tiers would raise maximum participation fees for Class 1 and Class 2 issuers from CAD 100,500 to CAD 331,500, while a new registrant tier for firms with more than CAD 4 billion in Ontario specified revenues would raise the highest fee from CAD 2,037,000 to CAD 3,055,500. The proposal would also introduce a six-tier annual participation fee model for crypto-asset trading platforms, ranging from CAD 30,000 to CAD 170,000, plus new activity fees for CTP applications and material changes. The OSC also proposes higher exempt market filing fees, increased caps for certain late fees, new or increased fees for exchanges, alternative trading systems, information processors, clearing agencies, trade repositories and other specified regulated entities.
Monetary policy developments
Rate decisions during the week of April 27 remained again largely hold-oriented, but the tone became more guarded as the Middle East conflict continued to complicate the inflation-growth trade-off. Central banks in major advanced economies all maintained existing rates: the Federal Reserve kept the fed funds range at 3.50–3.75%, citing solid activity but elevated inflation partly linked to global energy prices. The Bank of Canada held at 2.25%, looking through the war’s immediate inflation impact while warning against persistence. The ECB kept the deposit rate at 2.00%, noting that upside inflation risks and downside growth risks had intensified, and the Bank of England held at 3.75% in an 8–1 vote, with one member favouring a hike as the MPC assessed possible second-round effects from higher energy prices. Several other Central Banks echoed this narrative: Thailand held at 1.0% as war-related energy costs were expected to lift inflation while weighing on demand, and Ukraine paused at 15% to preserve FX-market stability and contain expectations after fuel-price pressures pushed inflation above forecast. Deviations from the hold pattern showed a more mixed picture: the State Bank of Pakistan raised its policy rate 100 bp to 11.50%, judging that prolonged conflict had kept energy prices, freight and insurance costs materially above pre-conflict levels and could push inflation above target for several quarters. Botswana raised the MoPR 200 bp to 5.50%, framing the decision as a recalibration to strengthen policy transmission as inflation was expected to breach the 3–6% objective range, while still directing banks not to increase prime lending rates. In the opposite direction, Brazil cut the Selic 25 bp to 14.50%, continuing a cautious calibration cycle despite above-target expectations and uncertainty around commodity-price pass-through, on the view that the prior restrictive stance had already contributed to economic deceleration.