There are good reasons for most countries to improve cross-border payment efficiencies, however that desire is complicated by technical and legal issues. But new forms of digital money potentially open up some interesting new channels. 

On August 22, the Treasury announced plans to conduct a token-mapping exercise to determine how crypto assets, and related services, should be treated from a regulatory perspective in the country. This could signal a new direction for Australia’s regulation of digital assets.

The government’s pursuit of a zero Covid policy via strict lockdowns is hitting households and businesses hard, while a slow-burn crisis in the real estate sector is threatening to upend financial system stability. All trends that have big consequences for banks.

Through a unique combination of trade agreements, Mauritius is positioning itself as a conduit for international investment into Africa while pivoting its regulatory regime towards becoming more attractive to institutional funds.

One of the challenges facing financial institutions when it comes to compliance is the lack of standardisation across regions. This has led to a duplication of processes, increasing the cost, complexity and operational risk of trade reporting and degrading the quality of the data collected by regulators globally. 

To quote a former Prime Minister, the final phase of the Uncleared Margin Rules (UMR) is “not the end, it is not even the beginning of the end, but it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning”. The sixth and final phase of UMR has been well telegraphed and firms falling within scope are frantically making final preparations to be compliant. 

The European Commission’s decision to kick the EU social taxonomy into the long grass was greeted with disappointment by the sustainable finance community, but more importantly it might accentuate the slide towards greater fragmentation.

A two-decade tussle between the US and China over company listing rules is nearing an end with a truce, but critics remain cautious about the details.

Most jurisdictions appear increasingly inclined to accept stablecoins playing a role in the financial system. Some even see them as beneficial innovation. However, that will come at a price in terms of the rules they will have to follow.

Concerns grow over China’s banking system as Covid lockdown-induced economic slowdowns, bursting property bubbles and fraud plague the country’s lenders.