On 8 June 2018, China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission (CBIRC) published on its website the draft Decision of CBIRC on the Abolishment and Amendment of certain Regulations (Draft Decision) for public consultation.

Below are links to a full month’s worth of posts from the Cleary Enforcement Watch blog.

On 1 March, 2018, the Administrative Measures for Outbound Investment by Enterprises (NDRC Order No. 11) were formally implemented, which sets out detailed requirements for approval and filing of outbound investment projects by domestically-funded enterprises. Click here for more.

On 11 April 2018, Mr. Yi Gang, the new governor of the People’s Bank of China, spoke at a sub-forum “Normalization of Monetary Policy" during the Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference 2018 and announced a number of measures and timeline on more financial sectors opening, following President Xi’s high-level speech regarding further opening of foreign investment regime on 10 April.

On 23 February 2018, the Hong Kong Stock Exchange published the Consultation Paper on the Proposed New Listing Regime for Companies from Emerging and Innovative Sectors.

On November 10, China’s Vice Finance Minister Zhu Guangyao said at the information meeting in Beijing that China has decided to further open its financial services industry. In addition to the committed liberalisations of the foreign shareholding restrictions in domestic securities, future, fund management and life insurance companies, of particular interest is that qualified foreign banks will be allowed to hold the same percentage as Chinese investors can hold in Chinese domestic banks and asset management companies.

Regulators have made clear their view that responsibility for the culture of a bank sits at the top; if senior management create the right culture, good regulatory practice and procedures will naturally follow. Following the financial crisis banks’ senior management have come under increasing regulatory scrutiny and in some jurisdictions proposals have been put forward to make it easier to make them accountable for their actions. To help you keep up to date with current developments, we have produced a comparative analysis of how senior management responsibility in banks is being treated in

We are pleased to present this Cayman Asia M&A Market Report which recaps merger and acquisition activity involving Cayman public companies listed on the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong (“SEHK”) in the first half of 2017. Conyers is particularly active in this space, leading the Asian market in advising on Mergers & Acquisitions. The first six months of 2017 saw 68 equity acquisitions among SEHK listed companies, with an aggregate deal value of HK$45.72 billion (US$5.858 billion). Active industry sectors included Construction & Engineering, Consumer Services and Technology.

China’s outbound direct investment has gone up rapidly year by year but its foreign direct investment growth dropped sharply from 7.9% (in 2015) to 3.9%. The Chinese government responded by rolling out a series of regulations further relaxing regulatory controls over FIEs (foreign-invested enterprises) and simplifying the administrative procedures around foreign investors starting up a business in China.

Despite opening its borders, the Chinese state still controls certain industries through majority or sole ownership. To participate in these industries, multinational companies must often set up equity or contractual joint ventures with state-owned enterprises (SOEs). These companies must exercise increased caution when dealing with SOEs because of state secrets laws. Click here for more.