Regulatory News Wrap for Asia

Monday, 2026-10-19 · covering the last 72h (Friday–weekend)

India

SEBI

SEBI finalises revised Closing Auction Session timings and retains VWAP-based derivatives settlement. Following its 12 September consultation paper and recommendations of the Secondary Market Advisory Committee (SMAC), SEBI's 15 October circular moves the Closing Auction Session (CAS) to a 10-minute window from 3:30–3:40pm (replacing the current structure), with order entry closing randomly between 3:38–3:40pm. Index derivatives trading continues to 3:45pm on ordinary days but stops at 3:30pm on expiry days; the settlement price for both index and stock derivatives on expiry day stays anchored to the 30-minute VWAP of the cash-market continuous session, rather than switching to a CAS-blended price as earlier floated. Most provisions take effect 7 December 2026; the iceberg-order transition rules take effect 8 February 2027. (SMAC's recommendation to retain VWAP was first reported by Moneycontrol on 15 October, ahead of this circular.) Circular

No other new SEBI circulars, press releases or consultation papers this window.

Exchanges (NSE/BSE)

NSE's algo/NNF-ID pre-trade risk control goes live today. The pre-emptive order-cancellation check tied to NNF ID and Algo ID validations in the currency derivatives segment — deferred from 12 October per an NSE circular of 9 October — takes effect from today, 19 October. Circular

No other material NSE or BSE circulars this window beyond routine listing housekeeping and the regular ASM/ST-ASM surveillance list.

RBI, IFSCA & other

RBI restricts non-deliverable INR derivatives to hedging only and extends the Forex Risk Reserve requirement. (12 October, carried late.) A.P. (DIR Series) Circular No. 27 (RBI/2026-27/293) provides that IFSC Banking Units and standalone primary dealers authorised as Category-III dealers may henceforth offer non-deliverable derivative contracts (NDDCs) involving INR to non-resident users only for hedging purposes, removing the earlier unrestricted-purpose allowance. Authorised Dealers must also now maintain a 20% Foreign Exchange Risk Reserve, deposited in cash with RBI, for their own INR-derivative contracts hedging their own assets and liabilities — applying to contracts entered into after issuance. Circular

Nothing further from RBI's FEMA/FPI or settlement rule-making this window, and nothing from IFSCA.

Rest of Asia — Developed Markets

Hong Kong — HKEX/SFC: HKEX published its T+1 settlement consultation conclusions on 16 October, pushing the target launch to the second half of 2028 (from the original Q4 2027 proposal) after 109 responses flagged operational, technology and cross-border readiness concerns; the trade-amendment window will also close at 5pm on trade day rather than staying open to T+1 morning. The SFC welcomed the roadmap the same day. Consultation conclusions · SFC statement

Australia — ASIC: ASIC opened Consultation Paper 392 on 15 October, proposing regulatory guidance, asset-holding standards, transactional/settlement standards and financial requirements for digital asset platforms and tokenised custody platforms ahead of the Digital Assets Framework Act's commencement in April 2027. Submissions close 27 November. Consultation paper

Checked and quiet for Japan (JFSA, JPX/TSE, BoJ) and New Zealand (FMA, NZX, RBNZ) this window. Singapore (MAS, SGX RegCo) checked and quiet on capital-markets rulemaking; MAS's only live consultation this window (corporate governance standards for banks and insurers, opened 30 September) falls outside equities scope.

Rest of Asia — Emerging Markets

Indonesia — OJK: OJK issued a statement on 16 October responding to MSCI's 15 October announcement of a consultation on Indonesia's market-status classification, pointing to reforms already in train: disclosure of shareholdings above 1%, finer investor-classification granularity, new High Shareholding Concentration disclosures, and a minimum free-float requirement rising from 7.5% to 15%. Press release

Taiwan — FSC: FSC published a notice on 16 October setting the permitted scope of foreign securities (offshore funds, FSC-designated foreign exchanges' stocks/ETFs, depositary receipts and REITs) that licensed foreign-securities investment advisers may recommend, effective immediately. Notice (Chinese)

Checked and quiet for China (CSRC, SSE/SZSE, Stock Connect, PBoC), South Korea (FSC/FSS, KRX, BoK), Thailand (SEC, SET, BoT), Malaysia (SC, Bursa, BNM) and the Philippines (SEC, PSE, BSP) this window — no new rule-making surfaced beyond the Korea FSC tokenised-securities draft rules and China's CSRC fund-measures consultation already reported. Thailand's SEC crypto-asset ETF framework, also already reported, remains in effect since 16 October with no new development this window.

Informational only — summaries of public regulatory and central bank sources; not advice.