The Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission and Hong Kong Monetary Authority convened more than 200 financial sector stakeholders to discuss commercial uses of tokenisation. Discussions covered secondary trading, corporate treasury management and infrastructure for payments and liquidity. The seminar followed the launch of 24/7 tokenised fund trading and Ensemble TX’s addition of 24/7 interbank settlement for tokenised deposit transactions.

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority and the Securities and Futures Commission held an industry seminar on commercial uses of tokenised deposits and authorised investment products. Discussions followed Ensemble TX’s expansion to 24/7 interbank settlement and the SFC’s approval of secondary trading in tokenised money market funds around the clock. Further work will focus on scaling transactions and using tokenised deposits to settle a broader range of tokenised investment products.

The People's Bank of China reported that 297 projects won the 2025 Fintech Development Awards, up from 290 in the previous review. The review meeting called for exploring artificial intelligence in financial management and services while managing model risks. It also reiterated priorities for fintech investment, technologies under domestic control, stronger data foundations and technology governance.

The Dutch central bank estimates a median EUR 150 increase in gross monthly mortgage payments for households with variable rates or rate resets before the end of 2028. These exposures account for 19% of outstanding bank mortgage debt and affect around 950,000 households. Most appear able to absorb higher payments, but the share of analyzed households spending more than 40% of net income on mortgages would double from 4% to 8%.

South Korea's Financial Services Commission has outlined emergency security expectations for virtual asset providers, including continuous monitoring, tighter wallet safeguards and sufficient insurance and reserves. Planned no action letters would allow deposit and withdrawal suspensions when hacking is suspected, addressing uncertainty over intervention before confirmation. Broader security support and revised inspection standards will accompany preparations for legislation imposing security duties and damages liability comparable with those of financial institutions.

The Reserve Bank of New Zealand’s 2025/26 reverse stress test found that participating life and health insurers needed combinations of severe shocks to produce solvency breaches. Modelled recovery measures reversed those breaches, but depended on customers retaining cover and funding and reinsurance remaining available. The findings call for stronger evidence supporting assumptions, independent review and recovery plans that test whether critical actions remain feasible under stress.

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission has expanded advertising relief to allow broader retail investor communications about initial public offerings before prospectus lodgement, following its August 2026 consultation. Publicity must identify the issuer, direct investors to the prospectus and explain the application requirements. Offerors must keep information current, while prohibitions on misleading or deceptive conduct remain unchanged.

South Korea’s Financial Services Commission announced a decision to refer suspected insider trading involving undisclosed bonus share issue information to the Serious Crimes Investigation Agency. The allegations concern corporate trades generating several billion KRW in illicit gains and personal trades yielding tens of millions of KRW. Penalties can include imprisonment of at least one year or fines of up to six times illicit gains, with companies also potentially liable.

South Korea’s Financial Services Commission reported a provisional KRW 6.4 trillion increase in household lending in October 2026, reversing September’s KRW 2.2 trillion decline. Mortgage growth accelerated, supported partly by previously approved group loan disbursements, while other lending returned to growth. Authorities urged lenders to avoid blanket credit cutoffs while maintaining controls on speculative borrowing and protecting access for borrowers with genuine financing needs.

South Korea's Financial Services Commission outlined governance reforms to restrict CEO influence over succession and strengthen board, shareholder and remuneration oversight. Bank holding company CEO reappointments would face progressively higher approval thresholds, while CEO nomination committees would comprise only independent directors. The plan also provides for shareholder nominations of independent directors, stronger pay disclosure and deferral requirements, and performance pay clawbacks, with draft legislative and regulatory amendments planned by the end of 2026.

South Korea’s Securities and Futures Commission imposed auditor designation requirements on Selvas Healthcare and Daewoo Industrial Development for accounting violations, alongside a securities issuance ban lasting 12 months for Daewoo Industrial Development. Daejoo Accounting Corp. is barred from auditing Daewoo Industrial Development for five years over audit failures and a rotation breach, with four accountants also facing restrictions. Financial penalties remain subject to final decisions by the Financial Services Commission.

South Korea’s Financial Supervisory Service reported a combined capital adequacy ratio of 186.0% for seven financial conglomerates at end-June 2026, up 8.4 percentage points from December. Equity valuation gains and higher retained earnings helped capital grow faster than requirements. All seven groups exceeded the 100% regulatory minimum.