Global Regulator & Central Bank News Roundup

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has published the findings of its 2025-26 financial reporting and audit surveillance, concluding that reporting and audit quality continue to fall short where financial reports depend on significant judgement, notably revenue recognition, impairment and asset valuations. In response, ASIC has named the large audit firms in its findings for the first time in several years, tightened its follow-up of remediation, stepped up enforcement and set out a wider surveillance programme for 2026-27. On the reporting side, the most common weaknesses were missing or generic disclosure of material business risks in companies’ operating and financial reviews, followed by errors in the recognition and valuation of assets, which led a number of companies to change or agree to change their financial reports. On the audit side, auditors repeatedly failed to obtain sufficient evidence, to challenge management’s valuation and forecast assumptions, and to document their professional judgements. Three audits selected because of independence concerns, involving long firm tenures and former partners in senior client roles, all showed insufficiently documented judgements. ASIC has required the six largest firms to implement action plans addressing the independence shortcomings identified in its earlier review and to demonstrate that these are producing lasting improvements. Auditors have proposed remediation for nearly all surveillance findings, and in 2026-27 ASIC will verify that these actions have been completed and may issue audit deficiency reports where they have not.

Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) Chair Sarah Court has expressed doubts about whether prediction markets for retail clients are in the public interest, citing their highly speculative nature and potential market integrity risks. Prediction market contracts typically involve betting on an all-or-nothing event outcome, often unrelated to investment, raising questions about whether they should be classified as investment products. They share key characteristics with binary options, which have been prohibited for retail clients in Australia since 2021. Court highlighted risks involving the misuse of confidential information, market manipulation and disputes over how contract outcomes are determined. She also warned that Australians accessing offshore prediction markets directly online do not benefit from protections under Australian law. Australian financial services licensees facilitating access to such markets remain subject to all their existing licence obligations.

The Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) has approved the world's first secondary trading of tokenised public funds on an SFC-licensed virtual asset trading platform (VATP). Trading has commenced for two existing SFC-authorised money market funds, the ChinaAMC HKD Digital Money Market Fund and ChinaAMC USD Digital Money Market Fund, allowing investors to buy and sell tokenised fund units around the clock. The launch expands trading opportunities beyond conventional market hours and marks the first implementation of the SFC's pilot framework for secondary trading of tokenised public funds, introduced in April 2026. The framework, established through an SFC circular issued in April 2026, sets out requirements for secondary trading of tokenised funds covering trading arrangements, fair pricing, liquidity provision and investor disclosure. Among other safeguards, licensed VATPs must alert investors to significant deviations from indicative net asset values, while product providers are expected to arrange market-making support and facilitate transfers between primary and secondary markets. The initial rollout focuses on tokenised money market funds, with the SFC planning to monitor trading activity and consider expanding the range of eligible products based on market developments and experience gained. Looking ahead, the SFC also sees potential for integrating tokenised funds with tokenised deposits developed in collaboration with the Hong Kong Monetary Authority under Project Ensemble. Such integration could enable more efficient settlement and allow investors to transfer proceeds from tokenised asset sales instantly for other investment opportunities or uses.

Speaking at the Hong Kong Confederation of Insurance Brokers' annual conference, Insurance Authority Chairman Stephen Yiu outlined the need to strengthen Hong Kong's specialty insurance market to support its development as an international financial, shipping, trading and technology centre. He highlighted increasingly complex risks, including geopolitical disruptions to maritime trade, alongside new commercial activities requiring tailored insurance solutions. Against this backdrop, the Insurance Authority's board has decided to establish a dedicated working group on specialty insurance, with brokers invited to contribute to its targets and priorities. Yiu pointed to several initiatives aimed at strengthening Hong Kong's capacity to insure and transfer specialized risks. In financial services, planned legislation for protected cell company structures and a revised definition of eligible investors would support the development of insurance-linked securities as a mechanism for addressing protection gaps and transferring risks to capital markets. In maritime insurance, the Marine Specialty Risk Pool, launched in November 2025, continues to expand, while the Hong Kong P&I Club is scheduled to begin operations in 2026. These initiatives form part of efforts to develop specialized insurance capabilities alongside Hong Kong's financial and shipping industries. At the same time, developments in other sectors are creating further demand for tailored risk protection. The introduction of gold clearing and settlement infrastructure is expected to generate demand for specie insurance covering precious metals, while the increase in captive insurers established in Hong Kong from four to nine over two years reflects the growing use of local structures for corporate risk management. Investments in data and computing infrastructure, together with developments in commercial aerospace and autonomous driving, present additional areas requiring specialty coverage.

The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has released draft Open Banking Regulations for public consultation, requiring all banks, microfinance banks and electronic money institutions to give authorized Third Party Providers (TPPs) access to customer data and payment initiation with customer consent. Informed by the first cohort of SBP's Regulatory Sandbox on Open Banking, the framework aims to digitize business payments and support credit access for small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Account holding institutions (AHIs) must share balances and transaction history through the Raast centralized API hub. TPPs, which require SBP authorization, may use this access to initiate business and consumer payments to businesses or to aggregate data for credit scoring and consolidated balance views. Consent must be explicit, specific and limited in time, TPPs may not handle customer login credentials, and customers can revoke consent at any time with immediate effect. AHIs are liable for unauthorized, failed or late payments unless the TPP is at fault, and must credit valid customer claims within seven business days before recovering amounts from a liable TPP. TPPs must report incidents to SBP within two hours and delete or anonymize customer data within 30 days of a consent ending. To drive adoption, Raast will not charge TPPs, consumers will not pay for payments to businesses, and merchant pricing must sit below prevailing market levels.

The Thailand Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has strengthened sustainability-related disclosure requirements for listed companies and certain investment funds and trusts, aligning reporting with IFRS S1 and IFRS S2 standards issued by the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB). Mandatory reporting will be introduced progressively from the 2027 reporting year, beginning with SET50 companies, alongside five transition reliefs to support implementation. The requirements also mandate assurance of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions disclosures in accordance with internationally accepted assurance standards. The first phase applies to SET50 constituents identified in the December 2026 index review, which must disclose information for the 2027 reporting year in 2028. SET100 constituents identified in the December 2027 review will follow for the 2028 reporting year, with disclosures due in 2029. The requirements will subsequently extend to all companies listed on the Stock Exchange of Thailand, including initial public offerings, for the 2029 reporting year, followed by companies listed on the Market for Alternative Investment, real estate investment trusts, infrastructure funds and trusts, and property funds for the 2030 reporting year. The five transition reliefs cover first-year comparative information, initial climate-related disclosures, reporting timeframes, acceptance of equivalent GHG emissions calculation standards and temporary exemptions from Scope 3 GHG emissions disclosures. The SEC has also revised the relevant reporting forms and published disclosure guidance to support implementation.

European Central Bank (ECB) President Christine Lagarde has informed the Governing Council and European Council President António Costa that she will step down on 7 February 2027. Her successor will be appointed by the European Council following the nomination process set out in Article 283 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. The Governing Council marked the announcement by thanking Lagarde warmly and giving her a standing ovation.

The European Central Bank (ECB) has published the Eurosystem’s Appia consultation findings, with 127 responses showing broad support for a European tokenised financial ecosystem anchored in central bank money and developed through cooperation between public and private sectors. Respondents favoured neutral governance and coordination by the Eurosystem and prioritised common standards to prevent fragmentation. Further market work will inform the Appia blueprint by 2028, while architecture choices remain open. Respondents backed central bank money’s role in connecting complementary private settlement assets and ensuring their convertibility. They called for standards enabling interoperability between distributed ledger technology and existing financial infrastructures, alongside harmonised European Union legal and regulatory frameworks. Views on architecture reflected competing benefits and risks. A single network could concentrate liquidity and reduce fragmentation but increase concentration and dependence on particular technologies or vendors. Multiple networks could preserve competition but would require robust interoperability to prevent fragmentation of liquidity and collateral. The report conveys no Eurosystem preference on these options. The Eurosystem plans to begin analytical and practical work with market participants before the end of 2026, initially focusing on tokenised deposits and payments, tokenised securities and shared network governance. A separate stakeholder group supporting European standards is being established. The ECB and several national central banks have already begun foundational work on tokenised central bank money and on-chain central bank collateral mobilisation. More complex testing combining different components is planned for 2027.

The European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) has published a staff paper outlining a four-part framework for integrating behavioural insights into conduct of business supervision. The approach emphasises assessing whether insurance and pension products deliver outcomes that support consumers’ financial health, rather than relying on firms’ regulatory compliance as a sufficient measure of consumer protection. It also calls for a more realistic understanding of consumer decision-making and broader supervisory interventions that address the market conditions, product features and distribution practices shaping consumer choices. The framework comprises four interconnected building blocks. First, supervisors should define and assess consumer outcomes, distinguishing long-term objectives such as adequate insurance coverage and retirement income from intermediate indicators such as improved product understanding. Second, they should examine how consumers actually make financial decisions, taking account of behavioural patterns, practical constraints and the wider decision-making environment rather than assuming that providing information necessarily leads to informed choices. Third, interventions should extend beyond individual disclosures and behavioural nudges to address market structures, product design and distribution practices, potentially combining measures at different levels. Fourth, supervisors should use complementary research methods, including surveys, qualitative studies, administrative data and experiments, to understand consumer behaviour and evaluate interventions before and after implementation. The paper illustrates the framework through three areas of EIOPA’s previous supervisory work. For natural catastrophe insurance, behavioural research identified underestimated risks and expectations of state compensation as barriers to coverage, supporting interventions ranging from product standardisation to broader market arrangements. For credit protection insurance sold through banks, findings of high commissions, low claims ratios and constrained consumer choice highlight the importance of addressing product governance and distribution structures. For insurance-based investment products, mystery shopping findings demonstrate that formal compliance with disclosure requirements does not necessarily ensure suitable recommendations or fair value, reinforcing the need to assess actual consumer outcomes.

The European Union launched the Friends of Credits for Nature and Biodiversity at the 17th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP17) in Armenia. The informal, government-led initiative aims to build international support for nature credits and strengthen cooperation on biodiversity finance. Nature credits are designed to attract private investment in biodiversity conservation, restoration and maintenance by rewarding those who deliver measurable benefits for nature, complementing public funding and other financing mechanisms. The initiative was launched at an event co-hosted by the EU, France and Peru, with 12 additional countries welcomed as participants. It complements the work of existing international organisations on biodiversity credits and builds on the EU's July 2025 Roadmap towards Nature Credits, which outlines research, pilot projects and practical testing to develop credible nature credits. International cooperation will continue beyond COP17, including through an EU event at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP31) on November 18, 2026, and a planned formal endorsement of a joint statement by participating governments.

The Finnish Financial Supervisory Authority (FIN-FSA) has reported rapid growth in artificial intelligence (AI) adoption across the financial sector, stressing the need for stronger governance, clear responsibilities and effective risk management. Its annual survey of 84 financial sector entities found that 93% already use AI or plan to introduce it within the next two years. Use of generative AI and general-purpose AI models has risen from 74% to 90% over the past year, while AI agents and agentic AI are emerging as new areas of adoption. AI use is also expanding in customer-facing activities, with investment expected to increase further. AI governance practices and staff training have improved across firms of all sizes, alongside stronger monitoring and safeguards against discriminatory outcomes across financial sectors. The integration of AI issues into risk management systems has increased, reaching 90% of large firms, 86% of medium-sized firms and 65% of small firms. The FIN-FSA stressed that firms must identify risks associated with individual AI applications, establish clear internal accountability and demonstrate that their use of AI is supported by sound risk management. The survey also identified high-risk AI applications already deployed or under development. While such applications are permitted under the EU AI Act, they are subject to specific risk management obligations.

The Bank of England and Financial Conduct Authority published their fourth survey of artificial intelligence (AI) in UK financial services, finding that 86% of the 196 responding firms use AI, compared with 75% in 2024, although differences in respondent populations limit direct comparability. Generative AI accounted for 56% of reported AI systems, while operations and IT remained the largest area of deployment, representing 31% of systems. AI agents were deployed by 80% of full-survey respondents, predominantly to support human decision-making, with only 2% reporting agents with broad autonomy. Although just 7% of reported AI systems were classified as high materiality, their absolute number exceeded that reported in 2024. Reliance on third-party AI systems increased, with externally provided implementations accounting for 39% of reported systems, up from 33% in 2024, and 53% of high-materiality systems, up from 35%. Provider concentration was particularly pronounced in cloud and compute infrastructure, where the three largest providers accounted for 79% of reported relationships. Among cloud and compute relationships assessed as both highly critical and difficult to substitute, only 35% had tested exit plans. Oversight of third-party AI also remained a governance challenge, with 54% of respondents reporting difficulties applying model risk management principles to vendor-supplied models. While 94% of respondents reported having firmwide AI policies, post-deployment controls remained less widespread than pre-deployment safeguards. Ongoing monitoring, leakage testing and periodic review were each reported by around half of respondents, compared with more than 90% for pre-deployment reviews, human approval and vendor due diligence. Firms identified cyber risk amplification and critical third-party dependencies as the leading systemic risks associated with AI adoption. The proportion rating cyber risk amplification as a high or severe concern was expected to rise from 57% to 80% over the next one to three years, while the corresponding proportion for critical third-party dependencies was expected to increase from 40% to 63%.

The Bank of England launched a consultation on proposed supervisory expectations for central counterparties (CCPs) seeking to accept tokenised versions of collateral eligible under its proposed CCP Rulebook. The Bank's initial view is that the regulatory framework does not prevent CCPs from accepting such collateral. Tokenisation does not in itself determine eligibility, so a CCP could accept tokenised collateral if it demonstrates that the asset meets the outcomes expected of eligible collateral, including that the CCP can access, value and realise it when needed. Tokenised versions of collateral already accepted would need regulatory approval as new collateral where their risks differ from those already approved. The Bank also seeks views on whether the expectations could suit a wider range of assets in future, such as regulated stablecoins, tokenised money market fund units and tokenised gold, without proposing changes to eligible collateral. The proposed expectations, set out in a draft supervisory statement, focus on areas where tokenisation may raise additional considerations, from how collateral is valued and liquidated to how it settles and is held in custody. They also address operational resilience and credit and concentration risk management. The consultation paper cautions that efficient transfers in normal conditions do not guarantee efficient liquidation in stress. Digital twins depend on their link to the underlying asset and could trade at a discount, while digitally native assets may lack a conventional market to support liquidation. More decentralised public permissionless ledgers could bring probabilistic settlement finality and governance that relies on off-chain processes, creating challenges for accountability and operational resilience. Recording, custody and settlement functions could also spread across issuers, tokenisers, technology providers and custodians, creating dependencies that could affect access to collateral. The expectations would apply to UK CCPs and to recognised non-UK CCPs that are, or are likely to become, systemically important to UK financial stability. The paper also weighs faster collateral mobilisation and greater automation against wider financial stability risks. Shorter lags could reduce collateral buffers and the time available to intervene in stress, while shared reliance on smart contracts could create correlated liquidity demands. Adoption at scale would depend on interoperability, liquid markets in tokenised assets, and statutory developments on settlement finality and insolvency treatment.

The central banks of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden have published a joint report finding that households face substantially higher costs for cross-border payments within the Nordic region than for domestic payments or payments in the euro area. For bank transfers equivalent to EUR 200, the combined costs to the payer and recipient typically range from 4% to 7% when denominated in Nordic currencies, compared with less than 1% for euro transfers, even when the latter involve two currency conversions. Cross-border card payments also carry substantial foreign exchange (FX) costs, generally ranging from 2% to 3% for cardholders in most Nordic countries, compared with approximately 0.5% to 1.5% in Denmark. The disparity in bank transfer costs largely reflects the EU Cross-Border Payments Regulation, which requires charges for cross-border euro transfers to be aligned with those for comparable domestic payments. This fee-equality principle generally does not extend to Nordic currencies, although Sweden has opted to apply it to Swedish kronor. For card payments, costs predominantly reflect issuing banks' FX mark-ups, which vary considerably between countries but tend to be similar across banks within each country. Denmark's relatively low mark-ups follow a 2022 intervention by the Danish Competition Authority, which remains subject to court proceedings. The report also finds that neobanks generally offer cheaper cross-border transfers and card payments than traditional banks, potentially increasing competitive pressure on fees and FX mark-ups. The report identifies stronger competition, greater pricing transparency and improvements in payment infrastructure as potential ways to reduce costs. In particular, the TIPS cross-currency service could lower banks' processing costs by enabling instant settlement between currencies in central bank money. From July 2027, banks in non-euro area EU countries offering euro transfers will also be required to provide instant euro payments within 10 seconds, with requirements outside business hours following in June 2028, potentially widening the speed advantage of euro transfers. Further regulatory options include extending the EU fee-equality principle to non-euro currencies or adopting national measures similar to Sweden's approach, although such decisions fall outside the central banks' mandates.

The German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) has launched a consultation on a draft circular clarifying regulatory expectations for identifying insurers whose products are marketed and distributed under a partner company's brand. Under these white-label arrangements, policyholders must be able to identify unequivocally which insurer provides their coverage and is their contractual counterparty before submitting their contractual declaration. Insurers must ensure that their identity is clear in precontractual information and key contractual documents, while marketing and other sales communications must not create the impression that the distribution partner is itself the insurer. The draft circular calls for prominent and consistent identification of the insurer across relevant documents and distribution channels, including general insurance conditions, insurance applications and policy documents. BaFin considers it good practice to identify the insurer prominently at the beginning of the relevant information and clearly distinguish its role from that of the distribution partner. Terms such as 'risk carrier' must be adequately explained, while ambiguous descriptions of contractual roles or disclosures hidden in footnotes or small print are insufficient. Insurers must also establish appropriate internal processes and controls to ensure compliance, including the selection, management and monitoring of distribution partners. Product approval processes must ensure that distribution strategies align with the identified target market and that partners receive the information needed to act in customers' best interests. These expectations also apply to digital distribution channels. The draft applies to primary insurers distributing products under partner brands, excluding funeral expense funds and pension funds.

The Brazilian Securities and Exchange Commission (CVM) has launched a call for evidence to assess its regulatory framework for sustainability-related financial disclosures and whether changes to the current voluntary regime are warranted. The exercise covers reporting based on standards issued by the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB), adopted locally through CBPS 01 and CBPS 02. It follows the CVM's decision in May 2026 to remove the general mandatory reporting requirement for listed companies, originally scheduled to apply from financial years beginning in 2026, while retaining voluntary adoption. The CVM is seeking evidence on whether existing financial and sustainability disclosures leave material information gaps, whether voluntary reporting provides sufficient coverage, comparability and credibility, and whether the potential reduction in issuers' cost of capital from mandatory reporting would outweigh incremental compliance costs. It is also examining differences in information needs across investor groups, the disproportionate costs potentially faced by smaller companies and the effects of successive regulatory changes. Particular attention is being given to whether existing conditions for voluntary reporting discourage adoption, including reasonable assurance requirements from 2026, a minimum three-year reporting commitment and an unreserved declaration of full compliance with the applicable standards. Regulatory alternatives under consideration include retaining the current regime, easing voluntary adoption requirements, introducing mandatory reporting with phased implementation or company-size thresholds, limiting mandatory disclosures to selected climate-related information, incorporating essential disclosures into the Reference Form, and pursuing non-regulatory or self-regulatory solutions. The CVM has not expressed a preference among these options. Its board will determine whether to conduct a formal regulatory impact analysis, including its scope, when setting the 2027 regulatory agenda.

ADGM’s Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA) is engaging closely with Binance and monitoring developments following the cyber attack involving unauthorised withdrawals of assets. In its statement dated 30 October 2026, the FSRA reaffirmed that protecting clients and supporting market integrity and orderly market functioning remain its key priorities. The statement came after Binance reported that its hot wallets had been compromised, resulting in approximately USD 6.3 billion in stolen assets. Binance’s initial investigation suggested that an attacker had used a compromised DevOps engineer’s laptop to access an internal software container and initiate unauthorised withdrawals, although subsequent investigations identified additional breach points. The exchange pledged to cover the losses through its Secure Asset Fund for Users and corporate treasury. It said approximately USD 3 billion had been frozen on-chain through cooperation with law enforcement and industry partners, and that withdrawals had been temporarily suspended while security checks and remediation were undertaken. Investigations into the hack remained ongoing, with Binance committing to publish a detailed technical report and implement additional safeguards.

The Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) has published an insights paper, developed in collaboration with the Cambridge Digital Innovation and Regulation Initiative, examining how frontier and agentic artificial intelligence (AI) could affect cyber resilience in financial services. The paper identifies four interconnected challenges: faster AI-enabled cyber activity that compresses response times, shared technology dependencies that could transmit disruption across institutions, agentic systems whose actions may exceed their intended authority, and difficulties restoring critical operations on a trusted basis. It examines whether existing cybersecurity, operational resilience and third-party risk frameworks remain effective as AI changes the speed, scale and autonomy of cyber activity. The analysis focuses on four dimensions: speed, reach, authority and trust. On speed, it emphasises the need to verify that significant cyber exposures can be reduced before they cause material consequences, rather than relying on faster threat detection alone. On reach, it highlights how apparently diverse suppliers may share underlying models, cloud infrastructure, identity services and recovery arrangements, creating potential channels for disruption across institutions. Resilience assessments should therefore examine the independence, capacity and operational readiness of alternative services. On authority, the paper highlights the importance of explicit mandates, independently enforced action limits, traceable identities and effective intervention mechanisms to prevent AI agents from producing unauthorised outcomes through individually permitted actions or further delegation. On trust, the paper emphasises that restoring technology alone is insufficient to establish operational recovery. Institutions need reliable evidence of completed and pending actions, controlled access, system and data integrity, and reconciled transaction records before resuming critical operations. For firms, the analysis points to testing controls across entire AI-enabled workflows, including their operational dependencies and recovery arrangements. For authorities, cross-firm analysis and sector exercises could help identify shared exposures and potentially reinforcing responses to disruption. The paper provides an analytical framework for research and discussion rather than establishing new supervisory requirements.

Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA) has issued a circular on public disclosure good practices following a thematic review of licensed virtual asset service providers (VASPs). The review highlighted weaknesses in two areas: the ongoing governance and maintenance of disclosures, and the completeness and specificity of information about services and assets. Governance weaknesses included disclosures that were outdated or inconsistent with actual operations. Information gaps concerned pricing and order routing, details of individual virtual assets, and explanations of asset protection and third-party arrangements. On governance and maintenance, some VASPs appeared to treat disclosures primarily as a licensing deliverable rather than a continuing obligation. The circular sets out good practices that assign clear responsibility for maintaining and approving disclosures, supported by independent compliance monitoring. A central register maps general and activity-specific obligations to the relevant disclosures and accountable owners. Periodic testing checks whether live website information remains complete, accurate and accessible, while material business changes trigger additional reviews. On information about services and assets, broker-dealer pricing explanations were too generic, while routing disclosures did not clearly describe practices or demonstrate that firms had assessed the applicable liquidity-source threshold. Good pricing disclosures explain how reference prices and any spreads or markups are determined. Routing disclosures must identify any liquidity source receiving 20% or more of client orders. Asset information was sometimes missing or incomplete, and broad safeguarding statements did not explain the underlying protections. The corresponding good practices provide complete information for every asset offered and explain arrangements for protecting client money and client virtual assets, including the roles of banks or custodians.

The Government of Dubai Media Office announced that Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai, has approved new targets for Dubai AI Campus to attract more than 1,000 artificial intelligence companies and create over 5,000 highly skilled jobs by 2030. The decision follows the campus exceeding its original five-year targets for company numbers and investment volumes two years ahead of schedule. Since its launch in May 2024, the campus, which forms part of the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), has attracted over 500 AI companies that have collectively secured more than AED1 billion in private equity and venture capital investment. It has also contributed to the creation of more than 2,000 specialised technology jobs. During the third Dubai AI Festival, Sheikh Hamdan also reviewed development plans for a new 100,000-square-foot purpose-built Dubai AI Campus facility within the DIFC Zabeel District expansion. The facility will provide GPU-ready infrastructure, secure AI development zones and digital twin environments, alongside dedicated laboratories where government entities and private companies can develop, test and validate AI solutions before wider deployment. It will also house an AI Experience Centre and conference facilities, supporting collaboration between technology companies, investors and public sector organisations to advance AI development and commercialisation

The board of Saudi Arabia’s Insurance Authority has appointed Abdulaziz bin Ibrahim Alnowaiser as chief executive, succeeding Naji Al Faisal Al Tamimi effective Nov. 1, 2026. Alnowaiser has more than 25 years of executive leadership and board experience, including 15 years at insurer Tawuniya. He chaired Tawuniya’s board and executive committee from 2020 until joining the authority. His insurance experience also includes chairing the board and executive committee of United Insurance Company in Bahrain. Previous executive roles include chief executive of Emaar the Economic City, the main developer of King Abdullah Economic City, and Tahakom Investment Company, a subsidiary of the Public Investment Fund.

The Jordan Securities Commission has strengthened requirements for auditors qualified to audit entities under its supervision, mandating physical presence in Jordan for at least 183 days annually and introducing documentary verification of their residency. The measures are intended to reinforce compliance with the existing requirement for registered auditors to work full time at an audit firm within Jordan. Auditors must submit an annual declaration of their presence in Jordan within 30 days of the end of the second quarter, covering the period from July 1 of the preceding year to June 30 of the submission year. The declaration must be supported by an official record from the Public Security Directorate's Residency and Borders Department documenting entries into and exits from Jordan during the relevant period. The Commission will use these records to verify compliance with residency and registration requirements, with auditors failing to submit the required documentation within the prescribed timeframe potentially facing legal measures under the applicable instructions.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the National Basketball Association (NBA) have signed a memorandum of understanding to strengthen cooperation and information sharing on risks affecting the integrity of professional basketball and related prediction markets. The agreement establishes a framework for coordinating on matters that could affect both sports integrity and event contract markets, including potential insider trading and fraud. The NBA joins Major League Baseball and the National Hockey League in the CFTC's efforts to expand cooperation with professional sports leagues. The agreement provides for ongoing informal consultations, periodic meetings and information exchanges through designated representatives. Information sharing remains voluntary and subject to applicable legal requirements, with neither party obligated to provide information. Information exchanged under the agreement is presumed confidential and may be used only for the CFTC's statutory responsibilities or the NBA's efforts to protect basketball integrity.

The Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization (CIRO) has proposed reducing the standard deadline for dealer members to provide a final response to investor complaints from 90 days to 60 days. The change would give investors outside Quebec faster access to responses or escalation, aligning CIRO’s rules with Quebec’s existing complaint handling framework. It follows the review of complaint resolution timelines identified in CIRO’s fiscal 2027 annual priorities. An additional 30 days would be available for particularly complex complaints or delays beyond a dealer member’s control. Accompanying guidance identifies disputed suitability assessments, estate or tax matters and complaints involving multiple accounts as examples that may require extra time. Service or administrative matters, transaction errors, margin issues and account transfers would generally be expected to be addressed within 60 days.

The Canadian Public Accountability Board (CPAB) announced a modernized approach to overseeing smaller audit firms, with the 2027 inspection cycle marking the first phase of a proportionate model that directs inspection activity to areas where better audit quality has the greatest investor protection and public interest impact. The changes revise firm and file selection, add flexibility to inspection procedures for smaller firms and reporting issuers, and expand stakeholder engagement. CPAB also published findings from its inspections of smaller firms, which point to weaknesses in how firms evaluate their systems of quality management (SQM) and in how engagement teams audit revenue. Under a new targeted inspection program, some inspections will examine a firm's SQM without selecting individual audit engagements. CPAB will also add qualitative and quantitative factors to its selection process, such as trading activity, market capitalization and shareholder distribution, to identify lower risk audits where a file inspection may not be needed. A dedicated smaller firms inspection team will plan and carry out inspections and widen engagement with stakeholders, including provincial CPA bodies. A new Smaller Audit Firm Insights Group will track developments and emerging issues in the segment to inform CPAB's oversight. Over the longer term, CPAB will consider potential Rule changes to allow greater flexibility. The initiative stems from objective three of CPAB's 2025-2027 Strategic Plan. The SQM findings concern the annual self-evaluation that firms must complete and document under Canadian Standard on Quality Management (CSQM) 1, and fall into four areas. Some firms had no formal evaluation or framework, used evaluation periods longer than one year or completed evaluations late, in one case 11 months after period end. Monitoring relied mainly on inquiry and cyclical internal file inspections and ignored other relevant sources such as restatements, regulatory inspection findings, whistleblower matters and complaints. Firms did not identify all findings or assess whether they amounted to deficiencies and how severe and pervasive those deficiencies were. In other cases, monitoring was performed by individuals who lacked authority within the firm or reviewed their own work. CPAB cautioned that an evaluation producing few or no findings, especially during significant changes in a firm's reporting issuer population, should prompt firms to question whether monitoring works as intended.