The Hong Kong Monetary Authority and Bank Indonesia signed an MoU to explore interoperability between their QR code payment systems and coordinate on the related technical, operational and regulatory issues.

The Securities and Exchange Board of India approved new portfolio management and settlement regimes, expanding permissible investments, simplifying compliance and creating faster and wider settlement routes. It also broadened foreign investor access to commodity derivatives, enabled depository receipts on REIT and InvIT units and simplified accredited investor status through manager-led accreditation and new eligibility routes. Additional measures cover advertising, debt listings, bullion vaults, alternative investment funds and research analysts.

The Australian Securities & Investments Commission has finalized stronger, technology neutral controls for automated and AI enabled trading, with amended Market Integrity Rules taking effect in 2028 after an 18-month transition. The reforms strengthen algorithm testing, monitoring and governance while harmonizing requirements across securities and futures markets. ASIC is also consulting on consolidated guidance that would reduce relevant material for securities participants by almost 60%.

The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority has reviewed progress in simplifying prudential requirements without lowering safety standards. Eight of nine initiatives from its 2025-26 Corporate Plan are expected to be finalized by the end of 2026, alongside further capital, reporting and policy reforms. APRA aims to offset the burden of new requirements through additional simplification in 2026-27.

The Bermuda Monetary Authority has implemented agreed upon procedures for general business insurers with segregated or separate accounts. Approved auditors must conduct annual cell-level reconciliation and segregation checks, alongside specified reviews on a rolling five-year cycle, and file a separate factual findings report with the annual Statutory Financial Return.

France's Financial Markets Authority found that third party providers caused 87% of the 31 major DORA incidents confirmed for portfolio management companies in 2025, while cyberattacks accounted for 71%. The incidents disrupted critical investment management, trading, data and compliance functions across firms of all sizes. Reporting arrangements also remain incomplete, with 23% of portfolio managers lacking a DORA-compliant major incident reporting system in a November 2025 self-assessment.

A departing U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission commissioner urged regulators to shift Know Your Customer compliance from broad personal data collection toward attribute based verification and zero knowledge proofs. The commissioner also advocated wider reliance on third party identity checks and regulatory approaches suited to permissionless networks, while reiterating that the SEC’s Innovation Exemption for tokenized securities is a temporary bridge to permanent rules.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission charged CMI Capital and founder Michael D. Williams over an alleged scheme that raised about USD 860,000 from at least 18 investors using fabricated performance claims. Williams allegedly misappropriated about USD 384,000, while trading generated losses of at least USD 428,000. The defendants agreed to proposed injunctions and other relief, subject to court approval, with financial penalties to be determined.

The Financial Action Task Force placed Türkiye in enhanced follow-up after finding strong financial intelligence and international cooperation but material gaps in supervision, beneficial ownership, complex investigations and overseas asset recovery. Türkiye is compliant or largely compliant with 38 of 40 FATF Recommendations, but eight of 11 effectiveness outcomes are rated moderate. A three-year roadmap targets high-risk money laundering cases, terrorist financing controls, targeted sanctions and cross-border asset recovery.

The Czech National Bank used AI to synthesize 463 financial stability reports from 28 European countries covering 2015 to 2025. The analysis maps changing financial risks and compares national use of capital buffers and borrower based measures.

All 11 Democrats on the U.S. Senate Banking Committee called for a bipartisan public hearing on prediction markets rather than a private, Republican-only industry roundtable. They raised concerns about investor exposure, possible Securities and Exchange Commission jurisdiction, market manipulation, insider trading and concentrated profits.

The National Securities and Stock Market Commission of Ukraine discussed cooperation with TheCityUK on AI, tokenized assets, corporate governance and institutional development. Priorities include secure use of AI agents for routine regulatory work, defining the status of tokenized assets and preparing a new Corporate Governance Code with the OECD.