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Green bonds are generally defined as a type of bond instrument whose proceeds are used mainly for investment in projects that offer environmental benefits, such as renewable energy or other efficient types of energy. The number of issuances of green bonds has been increasing worldwide since the establishment of the Green Bond Principles (GBP) in January 2014, by the International Capital Market Association. In March 2017, the Japanese Ministry of Environment (MoE) published the Green Bond Guideline, which was drawn up in accordance with the GBP, aiming to make green bonds more popular and increase the number of issuances and investments within Japan in line with the global development of the green bond market. The Guideline was expected to encourage issuances of green bonds, and accordingly, several corporations and local governments in Japan have issued debt structured as green bonds.

Fintech: the emerging keyword of the 21st century. The term combines the words 'financial' and 'technology' and stands for the technological innovation in the financial services sector that has been under development in recent decades. This evolution can be seen daily when we use mobile applications to transfer money, make and accept payments, or when banks resort to robo-advisors to create automated investment advice for clients while taking advantage of lower administrative costs.

Asian regulators are cracking down on cryptocurrency trading as concerns grow over the risks posed to investors. Japan's Financial Services Agency ordered cryptocurrency exchanges Bitstation and FSHO to suspend operations for at least a month when it found that a Bitstation executive had been using customers funds for personal transactions and that FSHO had failed to protect customer funds and details. Coincheck was scrutinised after it lost $530 million of its customers' money due to a hacking attack. The Japanese regulator also fined four other exchanges and ordered them to improve on their internal and operational management.

Recent proposals should help create an EU-wide framework. There are some key points to consider

Responses from Syed Musheer Ahmed, General manager (Interim), Fintech Association of Hong Kong and Duncan Watt, Consultant, Eversheds Sutherland

Years of widespread anti-corruption investigations in the Lava Jato (Car Wash) scandal have strengthened the Brazilian enforcement framework for regulatory and criminal matters

GDPR could help businesses clean up data handling practices. But some could be heading in the wrong direction

The regulation of virtual currencies poses a number of practical questions

The PRC is progressively introducing a series of measures to ease restrictions on foreign investment

Tackling money laundering is a new area of focus for the UK financial regulator. New enforcement tools could help it in that mission