Regulatory News Wrap for Asia

Friday, 2026-11-06 · covering the last 24h

India

SEBI

SEBI eases accreditation with a manager-led route and a new securities-exposure test for Accredited Investors. Implementing AIF Regulations amendments notified October 15, a circular lets Managers of AIFs, Specialized Investment Funds and portfolio management schemes determine and record an investor's accredited status themselves — an additional, optional route alongside existing Accreditation Agency certificates — valid three years and recognised across Managers in the same corporate group. It also adds a securities-market-exposure qualifying test (₹5 crore for individuals, HUFs, family trusts and sole proprietorships; ₹20 crore for body corporates and other trusts) alongside the existing income and net-worth criteria, and deems all Persons Resident Outside India to be Accredited Investors without needing a certificate. Binds AIFs, SIFs, portfolio managers, investment advisers, research analysts and accreditation agencies; effective immediately. Circular

SEBI lets mutual fund schemes net fund settlement for outright cash-market trades, cutting temporary funding needs. Mirroring an April 2026 framework already in place for FPIs, a new circular permits a mutual fund scheme to net its fund obligations — securities settlement stays gross, and STT/stamp duty continue on a delivery basis — for outright purchase or sale trades (not both) in the same security within a settlement cycle; netting is permitted only within a single scheme, never across schemes. AMFI will work out implementation standards with exchanges, clearing corporations and custodians. Binds AMCs, trustees, custodians, clearing corporations, exchanges and brokers; takes effect April 1, 2027. Circular

SEBI cuts the no-questions threshold for INR currency-derivative positions from $100 million to $5 million. Implementing RBI's October 10 A.P. (DIR Series) Circular No. 25 on Risk Management and Inter-Bank Dealings, SEBI has revised its Master Circular for Stock Exchanges and Clearing Corporations so that domestic clients and FPIs must now establish underlying exposure in Indian debt or equity securities once long INR currency-derivative positions exceed USD 5 million equivalent combined across all exchanges and currency pairs — a steep cut from the prior USD 100 million limit — while short positions stay capped at USD 5 million outright. Binds stock exchanges, clearing corporations, depositories, DDPs, custodians and FPIs; effective immediately. Circular

Exchanges (NSE/BSE)

NSE and BSE stayed routine this window — surveillance-list refreshes (ASM/ST-ASM/ESM/LT-ASM/GSM), new listings, Diwali Muhurat trading-session settlement schedules and takeover-offer calendars — nothing touching algo trading, colocation, tick sizes, circuit limits or block/bulk deal rules.

RBI, IFSCA & other

RBI consolidates cyber-resilience and payment-security rules for non-bank payment system operators, tightening oversight of third parties. The Reserve Bank of India (Cyber Resilience and Digital Payment Security Controls for Non-bank PSOs) Master Directions, 2026 fold several earlier circulars into a single rulebook and add requirements — annual system audits due within two months of financial year-end, source-code safeguards and stricter oversight of third-party service providers including ATM switch operators — while keeping the original phased compliance dates (large PSOs since April 2025, medium PSOs since April 2026, small PSOs from April 2028). Covers card networks, payment aggregators, PPI issuers, white-label ATM operators and NPCI. RBI notification

Nothing equities-relevant from IFSCA this window.

Rest of Asia — Developed Markets

A quiet window right across the board — Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand all had nothing material to report.

Rest of Asia — Emerging Markets

Equally quiet across China, Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines — no new circulars, consultations or rule changes surfaced this window.

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