Regulatory News Wrap for Asia
Thursday, 2026-08-20 · covering the last ~24 hours
India
SEBI
SEBI bars Copthall Mauritius and Mansi Share & Stock Broking over closing-auction-session manipulation, impounds ₹3.68 crore. In an ex-parte interim order, SEBI found that during the BSE Sensex closing auction session (CAS) on the 13 August expiry, Copthall accounted for 85–99.9% of buy-order value across three sharp index spikes (up to 405 points in 28 seconds) while placing aggressive buy orders roughly 3% above the reference price, and Mansi placed and then cancelled 12.65 lakh shares in sell orders across eight Sensex constituents at prices up to 2.5% below the reference price. SEBI linked the pattern to the entities' expiry-day Sensex options positions, impounded ₹2.96 crore and ₹71.65 lakh of prima facie wrongful gains from Copthall and Mansi respectively into escrow, and barred both from placing, modifying or cancelling CAS orders until further notice — action taken within six days of the trades. Business Standard
No other new circulars, consultation papers or board decisions this window. The Accredited Investor consultation paper (comments due 3 September) is unchanged.
Exchanges (NSE/BSE)
No new material NSE or BSE circulars this window beyond routine settlement-calendar and surveillance notices.
RBI, IFSCA & other
RBI publishes minutes of the August MPC meeting: members flag a wait-and-watch stance on the inflation trajectory before any rate recalibration. The minutes of the 62nd MPC meeting (3–5 August, repo held at 5.25% with a neutral stance) show Governor Sanjay Malhotra saying he would "prefer to wait for more certainty to emerge on the inflation trajectory — in terms of the persistence of realised prints, the forecast and the likely levels at which inflation may settle — for any recalibration of the policy rate," while flagging risk that higher food, fuel and input costs could broaden into inflation and de-anchor expectations. External member Ram Singh said the trajectory warranted close monitoring, and Saugata Bhattacharya pointed to sharp global market swings and persisting inflation concerns through 2026; the MPC's post-meeting statement had raised the FY27 GDP forecast to 6.7% and lowered the CPI projection to 5%. RBI minutes
Separately, RBI's overnight VRRR auction on 19 August (notified ₹1,50,000 crore) was a routine liquidity-absorption operation, accepting ₹1,25,825 crore at an unchanged 5.24% cut-off. No new IFSCA items this window.
Rest of Asia — Developed Markets
Singapore — MAS: MAS announced a package to strengthen Singapore as an asset-management hub: a tax exemption on qualifying profit-related returns from commercial fund arrangements (proposed to take effect from Year of Assessment 2027), a new Hedge Fund Investment Programme under which MAS will co-invest with managers building out a Singapore presence, and a new Investment Management track under the Overseas Networks & Expertise (ONE) Pass for senior investment professionals. MAS media release
Elsewhere, a quiet window: no material new regulatory or market-structure announcements from Hong Kong (SFC, HKEX, HKMA), Japan (JFSA, JPX/TSE, BoJ) or Australia (ASIC, ASX, RBA) this window.
Rest of Asia — Emerging Markets
A quiet window: no new circulars or structural rule changes from China (CSRC, SSE/SZSE, Stock Connect, PBoC), South Korea (FSC/FSS, KRX, BoK), Taiwan (FSC, TWSE/TPEx, CBC), Thailand (SEC, SET, BoT), Indonesia (OJK, IDX, BI), Malaysia (SC, Bursa, BNM) or the Philippines (SEC, PSE, BSP) this window.
Informational only — summaries of public regulatory and central bank sources; not advice.