COVID-19: key Regulatory Statements in Hong Kong and Singapore

The outbreak of COVID-19 and associated instability in the financial markets is continuing to present challenges for financial institutions in Hong Kong and Singapore. In light of this, there have been various government and regulatory initiatives to alleviate the impact, and to enable firms to have more time to comply with regulatory reporting deadlines and capital requirements.

Regulatory round-up: key developments in Hong Kong and Singapore including:

• Extension of SFC deadlines on meeting external electronic data storage measures, client asset protection matters and data standards for order life cycles;
• Easing of requirements to report results by Hong Kong listed issuers;
• Easing of capital buffer requirement for Hong Kong banks;
• Temporary measures in Singapore to ease pressure on SMEs across leases, construction contracts, supply contracts, event agreements, tourism-related contracts and secured loan facilities;
• Singapore establishment of US$60 billion swap facility with the US Federal Reserve to facilitate stable liquidity conditions.

Learn more about Hong Kong and Singapore business support guidance.

See our coronavirus (COVID-19) feature for more information generally on the possible legal implications of COVID-19.