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Articles 61 - 90 of 98

Full-Text Articles in Banking and Finance Law

Global Stablecoins And China’S Cbdc: New Moneys With New Impacts On The Financial System?, Wei Shen, Heng Wang Jan 2021

Global Stablecoins And China’S Cbdc: New Moneys With New Impacts On The Financial System?, Wei Shen, Heng Wang

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Digital currencies are reshaping the financial, monetary, and regulatory landscape. There are at least two routes for the development of digital currencies. One is global stablecoins (e.g., Diem that is previously named Libra), issued by private players, while the other is central bank digital currency (CBDC) issued by central banks, with China’s CBDC as an example and possibly the first CBDC that will be issued by a major economy. Albeit in their rudimentary stages, global stablecoins and China’s CBDC are likely to disrupt the current financial system and challenge existing financial regulation. This article examines two crucial but under-explored questions: …


The Singapore Global Restructuring Initiative, Aurelio Gurrea-Martinez, Smu Office Of Research Dec 2020

The Singapore Global Restructuring Initiative, Aurelio Gurrea-Martinez, Smu Office Of Research

Research@SMU Infographics

The SMU School of Law has recently launched the Singapore Global Restructuring Initiative (SGRI) with the support of Ministry of Law. Led by Assistant Professor Aurelio Gurrea-Martinez, the SGRI is working on a variety of projects that seek to promote a better understanding of corporate insolvency laws.


The Future Of Reorganization Procedures In The Era Of Pre-Insolvency Law, Aurelio Gurrea-Martinez Dec 2020

The Future Of Reorganization Procedures In The Era Of Pre-Insolvency Law, Aurelio Gurrea-Martinez

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Several countries and regions around the world, including Singapore, the United Kingdom, and the European Union, are amending their restructuring framework to implement a pre-insolvency mechanism that includes most of the features that exist in the US Chapter 11 reorganization procedure. However, unlike what happens in the United States, where unsuccessful reorganizations lead to Chapter 7 liquidations, companies using this ‘de facto Chapter 11’ (DFCH11) are still allowed to use formal reorganization procedures. This article argues that, while the rise of the DFCH11 is not necessarily undesirable provided that various protections are put in place, jurisdictions implementing this restructuring tool …


Towards A Data-Driven Financial System: The Impact Of Covid-19, Nydia Remolina Jul 2020

Towards A Data-Driven Financial System: The Impact Of Covid-19, Nydia Remolina

Centre for AI & Data Governance (2019-2025)

The COVID-19 outbreak has a growing impact on the global economy and the financial sector, which plays a critical role in mitigating the unprecedented macroeconomic and financial shock caused by the pandemic. Given the unprecedented nature of the current crisis, financial regulators and supervisors, central banks, along with governments and legislatures face challenges to maintain financial stability, preserve the well-functioning core markets, and ensure the flow of credit to the real economy. Even though the COVID-19 has slowed down our daily lives and stopped the operation of many industries, it did not have the same effect in the data-driven finance …


The Promises And Perils Of Insurtech, Lin Lin, Christopher C. H. Chen Jul 2020

The Promises And Perils Of Insurtech, Lin Lin, Christopher C. H. Chen

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

The insurance sector, in riding the wave of the FinTech phenomenon, has been rapidly expanding, with a slew of firms having emerged to provide so-called “InsurTech” services. These services incorporate concepts such as blockchain, artificial intelligence, digitalisation and the sharing economy to various aspects of the insurance industry. This profusion of technology brings with it the promise of various benefits including increasing efficiency and lowering costs for not only insurers and intermediaries, but also businesses or consumers as end-users of insurance. However, the development of InsurTech comes with corresponding risks and regulatory concerns not currently accounted for by the traditional …


The Tax Treatment Of Haircuts In Financial Reorganizations, Aurelio Gurrea-Martinez, Vincent Ooi Jul 2020

The Tax Treatment Of Haircuts In Financial Reorganizations, Aurelio Gurrea-Martinez, Vincent Ooi

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Over the past few years, Singapore has implemented various ambitious insolvency reforms aimed at making the country an international hub for debt restructuring. This article argues that while Singapore has put in place one of the most sophisticated restructuring frameworks in the world, some tax reforms might be useful to maximise the potential of this new restructuring framework. Namely, it will be pointed out that the tax treatment of debt forgiveness granted by creditors in corporate reorganisation (‘haircuts’) should be reviewed. Under the current legislation, these haircuts may be treated as taxable income. As a result, financially distressed debtors may …


Regulatory Approaches To Consumer Protection In The Financial Sector And Beyond: Toward A Smart Disclosure Regime?, Nydia Remolina, Aurelio Gurrea-Martinez, Yvonne Ai-Chi Loh, David R. Hardoon May 2020

Regulatory Approaches To Consumer Protection In The Financial Sector And Beyond: Toward A Smart Disclosure Regime?, Nydia Remolina, Aurelio Gurrea-Martinez, Yvonne Ai-Chi Loh, David R. Hardoon

Centre for AI & Data Governance (2019-2025)

Traditionally, consumer and data protection policies evolved from issues of consent and information disclosure. The purpose of these regulatory approaches is the protection of consumers by reducing some contracting failures, such as asymmetries of information and a lower bargaining power, especially in transactions involving complex issues such as financial products and sensitive personal data. In the past, regulators have responded to privacy and consumer protection by adopting what this paper refers to as an “imperfectly informed regime”, in which consumers do not receive full information about the risks associated with their decisions, even if they are still protected through a …


Border Problems: Mapping The Third Border, J. G. Allen, Rosa M. Lastra May 2020

Border Problems: Mapping The Third Border, J. G. Allen, Rosa M. Lastra

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

The Internet has become the site of economically relevant objects, events and actions, as well as the source of potential risks to the financial systems. This article builds on a metaphor of ‘border problems’ in financial regulation, exploring a ‘third border’ between the ‘real world’ and ‘cyberspace’—a virtual domain of human interaction facilitated and conditioned by digital communications systems. Reviewing the ‘cyber-sovereignty’ debate and surveying the divergent approaches now emerging along geo-political faultlines, we argue that sovereign states still have a unique and irreplaceable role in guarding financial stability which must be reflected in the law of Internet jurisdiction: an …


Singapore’S Puzzling Embrace Of Shareholder Stewardship: A Successful Secret, Dan W. Puchniak, Samantha S. Tang May 2020

Singapore’S Puzzling Embrace Of Shareholder Stewardship: A Successful Secret, Dan W. Puchniak, Samantha S. Tang

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

In the wake of the 2008 Global Financial Crisis, the UK created the first stewardship code which was designed to transform its rationally passive institutional investors into actively engaged shareholders. In the UK corporate governance context, this idea made sense. Institutional investors collectively own a sizable majority of the shares in most of the UK’s listed companies. In turn, if the UK stewardship code could incentivize them to effectively monitor management – to act as “good shareholder stewards” – the managerial short-termism and excessive risk-taking, which were identified as contributors to the GFC, could be avoided.The UK’s idea to adopt …


Global Challenges And Regulatory Strategies To Fintech, Aurelio Gurrea-Martinez, Nydia Remolina Apr 2020

Global Challenges And Regulatory Strategies To Fintech, Aurelio Gurrea-Martinez, Nydia Remolina

Centre for AI & Data Governance (2019-2025)

The rise of new technologies has changed the operation, regulation and supervision of financial markets, bringing new challenges and opportunities for consumers, regulators, and financial institutions. This Article seeks to explore the most common regulatory strategies used by financial regulators around the world to address the challenges associated with the rise of fintech. These strategies include the imposition of bans, regulatory passivity, adoption of new legislation, permission on a case by case basis, and more interactive approaches such as innovation offices, accelerators and sandboxes. This Article argues that the adoption and desirability of each regulatory approach will depend on a …


In Whose Best Interests? Regulating Financial Advisers, The Royal Commission, And The Dilemma Of Reform, Han-Wei Liu, Toan Le, Weiping He, Michael Duffy Mar 2020

In Whose Best Interests? Regulating Financial Advisers, The Royal Commission, And The Dilemma Of Reform, Han-Wei Liu, Toan Le, Weiping He, Michael Duffy

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Following the Future of Financial Advice reforms, the ‘suitability’ and ‘appropriateness’ focus for financial advice has been relocated and supplemented by a ‘best interests’ focus in s 961B of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth). Yet, as the Australian Government’s Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry has pointed out, structural issues may often work against best interests being paramount. Further, moves to make the statutory obligation replicate a fiduciary obligation have been resisted in the consultative process that developed s 961B and related obligation sections and any replication is far from clear. Another key issue …


Regulation Of Derivatives In Asia: When Technology Meets Financial Engineering, Christopher C. H. Chen Jan 2020

Regulation Of Derivatives In Asia: When Technology Meets Financial Engineering, Christopher C. H. Chen

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

This chapter introduces the current state of derivatives market regulation in Asia following the global financial crisis. It focuses on Singapore and Hong Kong, the two largest international financial centres in the region. Singapore and Hong Kong have adopted international regulatory reforms, including mandatory trade reporting, centralized clearing, exchange trading requirements and the initial margin rule. The implementation has varied greatly because reporting requirements and initial margin rules have been implemented whereas clearing and trading requirements are waiting for full implementation. The arrival of financial technology may help Asian regulators oversee derivatives markets, by improving cross-border information sharing, reporting or …


Open Banking: Regulatory Challenges For A New Form Of Financial Intermediation In A Data-Driven World, Nydia Remolina Oct 2019

Open Banking: Regulatory Challenges For A New Form Of Financial Intermediation In A Data-Driven World, Nydia Remolina

Centre for AI & Data Governance (2019-2025)

Data has taken immense importance in the last years. Consider the amount of data that is being collected worldwide every day, industries are reshaping their activities into a data-driven business. The digital transformation of all industries, portent of the fourth industrial revolution, is creating a new kind of economy based on the datafication of almost any aspect of human social, political and economic activity as a result of the information generated by the numerous daily routines of digitally connected individuals and technology. The financial services industry is part of this trend. Embracing the digital revolution and creating the right foundations …


Theory, Evidence And Policy On Dual-Class Shares: A Country-Specific Response To A Global Debate, Aurelio Gurrea-Martinez Jul 2019

Theory, Evidence And Policy On Dual-Class Shares: A Country-Specific Response To A Global Debate, Aurelio Gurrea-Martinez

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Dual-class shares have become one of the most controversial issues in today´s capital markets and corporate governance debates around the world. Namely, it is not clear whether companies should be allowed to go public with dual-class shares and, if so, which restrictions (if any) should be imposed. Three primary regulatory models have been adopted to deal with dual-class shares: (i) prohibitions, existing in countries like the United Kingdom, Germany, Spain, Colombia, or Argentina; (ii) the permissive model adopted in several jurisdictions, including Canada, Sweden, the Netherlands, and particularly the United States; and (iii) the restrictive approach recently implemented in Hong …


Public And Private Enforcement Of Corporate And Securities Laws: An Empirical Comparison Of Hong Kong And Singapore, Wai Yee Wan, Christopher C. H. Chen, Say H. Goo Jun 2019

Public And Private Enforcement Of Corporate And Securities Laws: An Empirical Comparison Of Hong Kong And Singapore, Wai Yee Wan, Christopher C. H. Chen, Say H. Goo

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Current scholarship emphasises the correlation between enforcement of corporate and securities laws and strong capital markets. Yet, the issue of how private and public enforcement may achieve the objectives of compensation and optimal deterrence remains controversial. While enforcement strategies have been studied extensively in the US and the UK, comparatively less attention is placed on Asia, where concentrated shareholdings are the norm. This study fills the gap by focusing on Hong Kong and Singapore, two leading international financial centres in Asia. Post Asian financial crisis of 1997, Hong Kong and Singapore have changed their laws to strengthen the private enforcement …


Transplanting Chapter 11 Of The Us Bankruptcy Code Into Singapore's Restructuring And Insolvency Laws: Opportunities And Challenges, Gerald Mccormack, Wai Yee Wan Jan 2019

Transplanting Chapter 11 Of The Us Bankruptcy Code Into Singapore's Restructuring And Insolvency Laws: Opportunities And Challenges, Gerald Mccormack, Wai Yee Wan

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

In 2017, Singapore introduced wide-ranging reformsto its insolvency and restructuring laws with a view to enhancing itsattractiveness as an international centre for debt restructuring. Central tothese reforms is the transplantation (with modification) of certain provisionsfrom Chapter 11 of the US Bankruptcy Code including the automatic moratorium, cross-creditorcram-down, rescue financing and pre-packs. Drawing upon the US experience andsimilar reform proposals in the EU (including the UK), we critically evaluate theimpact of the new Singapore law. We argue that there remain challenges inensuring that the transplantation works well and highlight the possibleunintended consequences of such transplantation.


The Future Of Reorganization Procedures In The Era Of Pre-Insolvency Law, Aurelio Gurrea-Martinez Jan 2019

The Future Of Reorganization Procedures In The Era Of Pre-Insolvency Law, Aurelio Gurrea-Martinez

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Several countries and regions around the world, including Singapore, the United Kingdom, and the European Union are amending their restructuring framework to implement a pre-insolvency mechanism that looks like a US Chapter 11 reorganization. However, unlike what happens in the United States, where unsuccessful reorganizations lead to Chapter 7 liquidations, companies using this ‘de facto Chapter 11’ (DFCH11) are still allowed to use the formal reorganization procedures existing in their insolvency jurisdictions if the DFCH11 fails.


Financial Planning Mechanisms Available To Persons With Special Needs In Singapore, Hang Wu Tang Dec 2018

Financial Planning Mechanisms Available To Persons With Special Needs In Singapore, Hang Wu Tang

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

A woefully underinvestigated area of the law is the management of property rights of persons with special needs. In this chapter, the term ‘special needs’ is defined widely to include people who are incapable of managing their daily financial affairs. The scope of people within this group may include persons with dementia, schizophrenia and intellectual disability as well as vulnerable elders. It should be noted that persons with special needs may have accumulated substantial property before becoming incapable of managing their financial affairs by reason of illness, old age or dementia. Alternatively, they could have inherited or stand to inherit …


Dual-Class Shares In Singapore – Where Ideology Meets Pragmatism, Pey Woan Lee Dec 2018

Dual-Class Shares In Singapore – Where Ideology Meets Pragmatism, Pey Woan Lee

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

This article seeks to understand the rationale for and potential implications of the introduction of dual class shares (DCS) in Singapore. It does so by first considering the theoretical as well as evidential arguments for and against the use of DCS, followed by a survey on the reception (or otherwise) of such structures in four common law jurisdictions with vibrant capital markets, viz., Canada, the United States, United Kingdom and Hong Kong. It observes that the chief argument cited by business founders to justify the use of DCS structures is the desire to enhance a firm’s long-term profitability by shielding …


Unravelling Civil Conspiracy, Pey Woan Lee Nov 2018

Unravelling Civil Conspiracy, Pey Woan Lee

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

This article seeks to understand civil conspiracy through the lens of its historical rationale. It identifies that purpose to be the protection of public interests as the tort was originally fashioned as an extension of criminal conspiracy to counter serious social ills. For lawful means conspiracy, this rationale is exemplified by the requirement for improper or illegitimate motive whilst “unlawful means” serves the same function in the context of unlawful means conspiracy. Counter-intuitively, understanding the tort in this way provides a means of restricting the tort and reigning in its “revolutionary” tendencies. Recognising the tort’s policy-based foundation would, it is …


Enforcing Town Councils’ Duties Of Financial Prudence: Problems Addressed By The Town Councils (Amendment) Act 2017, Benjamin Joshua Ong Oct 2018

Enforcing Town Councils’ Duties Of Financial Prudence: Problems Addressed By The Town Councils (Amendment) Act 2017, Benjamin Joshua Ong

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

This article discusses the means by which a TownCouncil’s statutory duties, particularly its duties of financial prudence, maybe enforced. It studies the law as it was prior to 2017 and reveals variousconceptual and practical problems, the result of which was that it was possiblefor a Town Council to fail to perform its statutory duties and face onlyminimal consequences. This article willprovide a background to some of the new statutory procedures introduced in the2017 amendments to the Town Councils Act, which solve the problems from whichthe previous law suffered. It is hoped that this will shed light on the historyof the …


The Avoidance Of Pre-Bankruptcy Transactions: An Economic And Comparative Approach, Aurelio Gurrea-Martinez Aug 2018

The Avoidance Of Pre-Bankruptcy Transactions: An Economic And Comparative Approach, Aurelio Gurrea-Martinez

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Most insolvency jurisdictions provide several mechanisms to reverse transactions entered into by a debtor prior to the commencement of the bankruptcy procedure. These mechanisms, generally known as claw-back actions or avoidance provisions, may fulfil several economic goals. First, they act as an ex post alignment of incentives between factually insolvent debtors and their creditors, since the latter become the residual claimants of an insolvent firm but they do not have any control over the debtor´s assets while the company is not yet subject to a bankruptcy procedure. Thus, avoidance powers may prevent or, at least, reverse opportunistic behaviors faced by …


The Law And Finance Of Initial Coin Offerings, Aurelio Gurrea-Martinez, Nydia Remolina Leon Jun 2018

The Law And Finance Of Initial Coin Offerings, Aurelio Gurrea-Martinez, Nydia Remolina Leon

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

The rise of new technologies is changing the way companies raise funds. Along with the increase of crowdfunding in recent years, the use of Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) has emerged more recently as a new form to raise capital. Companies in the United States raised more than $4 billion in 2017 and over $6.3 billion were raised through ICOs in the first three months of 2018. In a typical ICO, a company receives cryptocurrencies in exchange for certain rights embodied in “tokens”, whose nature, treatment and implications are generating controversy among securities regulators around the world.


The New Additional Conveyance Duties Regime In The Stamp Duties Act, Vincent Ooi Mar 2018

The New Additional Conveyance Duties Regime In The Stamp Duties Act, Vincent Ooi

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

The new additional conveyance duties regime has gone beyond attempting to achieve tax neutrality between direct transfers of residential property and indirect transfers through the use of property-holding entities. It taxes an entirely new tax base and raises issues such as: the extremely broad concept of an “associate” relationship; definition of “unit in a property trust”; anti-avoidance provisions; liability for providing false information; tax neutrality; and the considerable flexibility that the section 23 Order provides the Government. This article analyses the regime in detail and considers the implications of various changes to the prescribed values in the section 23 Order.


The Balanced Scorecard Framework For Financial Advisers: A Pandora's Box, Kee Yang Low May 2016

The Balanced Scorecard Framework For Financial Advisers: A Pandora's Box, Kee Yang Low

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

The much-anticipated Balanced Scorecard Framework for determining the remuneration of representatives and supervisors in the financial advisory industry came into force on 1 January 2016. The framework is a major development and is likely to transform the industry. This article seeks to explain the framework and its challenges.


Sovereign Wealth Funds: Investors In Search Of An Identity In The 21st Century, Locknie Hsu Mar 2015

Sovereign Wealth Funds: Investors In Search Of An Identity In The 21st Century, Locknie Hsu

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Sovereign Wealth Funds (SWFs), as they have come to be known, are a hybrid type of foreign investor. They invest beyond their own borders with an aim to maximize returns as a foreign investor is expected to. At the same time, they are closely associated with governments, by ownership, source of funding, and/or investment objectives. Even as within this group, individual SWFs take various forms and may have divergent investment priorities and risk approaches. There is not even a universal definition of SWFs. As a result, they are often not viewed as typical foreign investors. The association of a SWF …


Judicial Inactivitism In Protecting Financial Consumer Against Predatory Sale Of Retail Structured Products: A Reflection From Retail Structured Notes Lawsuits In Taiwan, Chao-Hung Chen Feb 2014

Judicial Inactivitism In Protecting Financial Consumer Against Predatory Sale Of Retail Structured Products: A Reflection From Retail Structured Notes Lawsuits In Taiwan, Chao-Hung Chen

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

This article analyzes 310 structured note lawsuits in Taiwan between 2000 and 2013 to examine courts’ attitude in dealing with claims of misselling retail structured notes. We find that courts were generally not favorable to retail investors. This provides a contrast with the financial regulator’s efforts to improve financial consumer protection since 2008. By examining plaintiffs’ key arguments and courts’ rulings, we find that it was difficult for investors to fulfill their burden of proof and courts were reluctant to award remedies when investors did sign on a contractual document confirming his knowledge on a few matters. While regulators are …


Deutsche Bank V Chang: A Dramatic Reversal By The Court Of Appeal, Kee Yang Low Feb 2014

Deutsche Bank V Chang: A Dramatic Reversal By The Court Of Appeal, Kee Yang Low

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

The 2012 High Court decision awarding scientist Chang Tse Wen US$49m for losses from investing in accumulators through Deutsche Bank has been overturned by the Court of Appeal. This article seeks to aid readers in understanding the CA decision and in appreciating the legal implications.


Misrepresentation, Fiduciary Duty And Negligence: Investor Scores Rare Win In Deutsche Bank V Chang, Kee Yang Low Apr 2013

Misrepresentation, Fiduciary Duty And Negligence: Investor Scores Rare Win In Deutsche Bank V Chang, Kee Yang Low

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Law reports of the last decade are littered with unsuccessful suits by investors against their banks for negligent or unsuitable advice. Rarely do investors succeed. This is despite the wide array of courses of action available, allowing them to sue for breaches by the bank of contractual duty (in particular, through misrepresentation), duty of care, statutory duty and fiduciary duty.


Product Suitability, Due Diligence And Management Responsibility: The New Regime Of Regulation 18b Of The Financial Advisers Regulations, Kee Yang Low Mar 2012

Product Suitability, Due Diligence And Management Responsibility: The New Regime Of Regulation 18b Of The Financial Advisers Regulations, Kee Yang Low

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

In response to the structured products crisis of 2008, many changes were made to the Singapore regulatory landscape over the past three years. More recently, in July 2011, the Financial Advisers Regulations (Cap 110, Rg 2, 2004 Rev Ed) was amended and an important new provision – reg 18B – was added. Regulation 18B requires a financial adviser and its senior management to conduct a comprehensive due diligence exercise before selling a new product. This comment considers reg 18B’s overall scheme, its interpretational difficulties, the demands of the diligence requirements, its interrelation with s 27 of the Financial Advisers Act …