The Monetary Authority of Singapore estimates that about 4,000 mortgaged households could face cash shortfalls under a severe scenario of higher mortgage rates and sharply lower income. This represents around 1% of relevant borrowers and is not an estimate of households currently under stress. Lenders, the Housing and Development Board and Credit Counselling Singapore provide early assistance, restructuring or debt guidance.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore confirmed that five new Equity Market Development Programme managers will receive SGD 1.45 billion. Their award terms and performance indicators are guided by a consistent framework aligned with the programme’s objectives.

Hong Kong plans to formally launch its gold central clearing and settlement system in the first quarter of 2027, with 11 banks already serving as provisional direct participants. Integration with the Real Time Gross Settlement system is nearing completion to support Delivery versus Payment settlement, while the government is exploring tax concessions, additional storage and refining capacity, and cooperation on international delivery standards.

The Bank of England’s Prudential Regulation Authority proposes automatically increasing 128 banking, insurance and credit union thresholds in line with nominal UK GDP. The first adjustment would occur on July 1, 2031, followed by updates every five years. A parallel discussion paper considers whether additional excluded thresholds should also be indexed.

The Prudential Regulation Authority has proposed automatically indexing 128 fixed nominal regulatory thresholds to UK nominal GDP growth. The first update would take effect on July 1, 2031, followed by updates every five years, reducing unintended regulatory tightening while retaining requirements for firms that outgrow the wider economy. More complex thresholds affecting credit models, liquidity and related Financial Conduct Authority regimes remain under discussion.

The National Bank of the Kyrgyz Republic has aligned regulations for banks, nonbank financial organizations and payment systems with domestic anti-money laundering requirements, international standards and related supervisory rules.

AMLA is consulting on standards for a central EU database covering obliged entities, supervisors and supervisory activities. The standards define reporting requirements, breach materiality thresholds and AMLA’s access to further information, while relying on existing supervisory data to avoid new costs for obliged entities. Some requirements will apply in stages.

Szego, chair of the European Union’s anti-money laundering authority, said supervisory convergence remains low, particularly in the nonfinancial sector, as the authority develops common rules, methodologies and intelligence-sharing formats. Crypto is a priority, while preparations continue to place selected high-impact cross-border financial institutions and groups under direct European Union supervision from 2028.

The European Securities and Markets Authority expects national regulators to deprioritize enforcement against unrecognized third-country CSDs after the current transitional regime expires on Jan. 17, 2027. This is intended to preserve access to notary and central maintenance services until EU legislation providing a proposed three-year extension takes effect.

A European Central Bank working paper finds that firms with home biased shareholders cut investment by 20% more than diversified peers after severe COVID-19 exposure. Domestic investors held 57% of euro area firms’ equity, compared with 9% held elsewhere in the euro area, while weaker equity resilience rather than sales or bank financing differences primarily explained the investment gap.

A European Central Bank working paper proposes two quarterly indices measuring potential bank capital depletion and pressure on earnings capacity. The indicators can separate prospective solvency risks from current profitability weakness and support prudential buffer decisions. Recent divergence points to improved earnings but still-elevated tail risks, supporting the preservation of existing buffers.

The European Central Bank reported a fourth consecutive quarter of slightly easier overall credit terms in euro-denominated securities financing and OTC derivatives markets. Securities financing demand rose across most collateral types, while haircuts generally declined despite higher financing rates and spreads for most-favoured clients. Initial margins fell slightly for several non-centrally cleared derivatives, but valuation disputes increased, particularly for credit derivatives.