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Asia Pacific: not in our backyard
Non-EU financial regulators, including Hong
Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission (SFC),
Japan’s Financial Services Agency (JFSA) and the
US’ Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) are
looking to get an exemption from the General Data Protection
Regulation (GDPR) to ease cross-border investigations. The
regulators are seeking an administrative arrangement to provide
formal exemption to be applied to cross-border information
sharing.
China Mobile has been blocked from entering the US on
national security grounds. The incident is happening against
the backdrop of the growing tensions between US and China. The
US Commerce Department is reviewing export controls to
strengthen national security reviews of foreign acquisitions of
US companies. The proposed legislation will give the Committee
on Foreign Investment in the US (Cfius) to review transactions
for national security risks as well as the creation of a list
of new technologies that will be controlled which are likely to
include artificial intelligence and robotics technologies that
are part of the Made in China 2025 initiative.
Americas: independence days
It’s been a typically hot and slow summer news
week in the US. Punctuated by Independence Day, not much
happened bar the celebration of the country’s
242nd birthday. The most significant news story to hit the
Americas was in Mexico, where Andrés Manuel López
Obrador won the presidential election. AMLO, the acronym he is
widely known as, is a leftist populist leader who has
previously voiced his dislike for his US counterpart. The world
will watch to see how the North American Free Trade Agreement
(Nafta) negotiations develop once he officially takes office in
December.
Electronic payment company Square quietly withdrew its
application to be a depository bank from the Federal Deposit
Insurance Corporation (FDIC). The fintech intends to resubmit
its application once it has strengthened certain aspects of its
case as directed by the regulator. A separate application in
Utah remains in place.
Bitcoin took a tumble following the Square announcement,
which itself followed the news that the Securities and Exchange
Commission requested comment on a further bitcoin-based
exchange-traded fund.
The FDIC was also awarded $625.3 million by a federal judge,
after PwC failed to uncover a fraud scheme between Colonial
Bank and the mortgage lender Taylor Bean & Whitaker.
EMEA: clarification or confusion?
European bank consolidation has been a topic for discussion
for a number of months. Following a poll on IFLR.com, 71% of
respondents believe that bank consolidation is necessary for
the banking sector. Yet for the time being, big bank mergers
are unlikely. According to Patrick Sarch, partner at White
& Case, the tipping point would be in the next two to three
years. Before then however, it is likely that bank
consolidation will be driven by challenger banks.
New rules in the UK are intended to provide greater clarity
to investors about initial public offerings (IPOs). But there
are fears that the new rules will deter smaller companies from
listing. "We’ve ended up with a regime that will
produce some extra cost for companies, and this could cause
some issues," warned a lawyer. The changes come after criticism
that connected analysts received access to a prospectus well
before unconnected analysts, who may see a prospectus only
shortly after a sale.
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has sort to provide
clarification on the Senior Managers and Certification Regime
following a consultation last year and published its 'near
final’ rules this week. The FCA is also
considering whether to create a public register of senior
managers’ employment history, which could make it
easier to assess whether a senior manager is 'fit and
proper’.
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