Regulatory News Wrap for Asia
Friday, 2026-07-31 · covering the last ~24 hours
India
SEBI
SEBI has agreed in-principle to settle NSE's decade-old colocation and dark-fibre cases, clearing one of the last regulatory overhangs ahead of the exchange's IPO. In a letter dated 30 July, SEBI demanded a further ₹714.74 crore on top of the ₹776.47 crore NSE had already deposited, taking the cumulative settlement to roughly ₹1,491 crore. The two matters date to 2015–16 allegations that certain brokers got preferential early access to NSE's colocation servers and unauthorized dark-fibre connectivity, giving them a latency edge over other participants. No formal SEBI order has been published yet; reporting is based on the settlement letter referenced in NSE's disclosures. Business Standard
No other material new SEBI circulars, press releases or consultation papers on trading, derivatives or settlement mechanics this window.
Exchanges (NSE/BSE)
No new material circulars this window beyond routine settlement-calendar, new-listing and surveillance notices. Brokers are running mock trading sessions ahead of the Closing Auction Session go-live for F&O-eligible stocks, now three trading days out on 3 August.
RBI, IFSCA & other
No material RBI items specific to equity markets or FPIs this window. No new IFSCA circulars or consultation papers bearing on equities.
Rest of Asia — Developed Markets
Hong Kong: The SFC issued a restriction notice (30 July) freezing roughly HK$125m (~US$16m) in client accounts at Futu Securities International suspected of being used to create a false or artificial appearance of demand for shares in an IPO; Futu itself is not the subject of the investigation. Caproasia
Elsewhere, a quiet window: no material new regulatory or market-structure announcements from Japan (JFSA, JPX/TSE), Singapore (MAS, SGX RegCo), Australia (ASIC, ASX) or New Zealand (FMA, NZX) this window.
Rest of Asia — Emerging Markets
South Korea: the KOSPI's rebound attempt failed on Thursday, extending the sell-off to a third day, while the FSC's tripled deposit requirement for single-stock leveraged ETFs took effect Friday — the first of the pledged curbs to actually become rule. KOSPI rallied more than 5% intraday toward 6,000 on bargain-hunting and a strong Samsung Electronics earnings beat, but heavy afternoon retail selling erased the gains and it closed down 1.23% at 5,593.56; no marketwide circuit breaker fired Thursday, ending the two-day streak, but the three-day cumulative decline is still roughly 17%. The minimum cash deposit for trading Samsung/SK Hynix-linked single-stock leveraged ETFs and ETNs tripled from 10 million to 30 million won as of Friday, with only cash (not securities) counting toward it. The other pledged measures — a 20% portfolio cap on individual leveraged-ETF holdings, added trading costs, expanded mandatory training, and a Capital Markets Act amendment granting emergency stabilisation powers — remain announced intentions; regulators said Thursday these would follow "as early as possible" but none has been formalised yet, and KRX's existing 8%/15%/20% circuit-breaker thresholds are unchanged. Seoul Economic Daily, regulator statement via Social News
Indonesia: OJK said Thursday it plans to issue its IDX demutualisation regulation in September, targeting equity-stake limits for the Finance Ministry, Bank Indonesia and Danantara as the exchange converts from member-owned to shareholder-owned. Jakarta Post
Elsewhere, a quiet window: no new circulars or structural rule changes from China (CSRC, SSE/SZSE, Stock Connect), Taiwan (FSC, TWSE/TPEx), Thailand (SEC, SET), Malaysia (SC, Bursa) or the Philippines (SEC, PSE) this window. The CSRC's review of quantitative and AI-driven trading oversight remains at the symposium stage, with no draft rule published yet.
Industry & broker notes
Nothing distinct from freely available broker/industry commentary this window beyond the items above.
Informational only — summaries of public regulatory sources; not advice.