Programme list

This session will discuss:
• updates on insider trading rules;
• Regulation Fair Disclosure;
• unfair manipulation; and
• enforcement.

This session will discuss:
• the development of regulations on security token offering (STO) in each jurisdiction;
• examples of security tokens;
• digital exchanges dealing with security tokens; and
• foreseeable impact on the financial market in Asia.

This session will discuss:
• the development of regulations on stablecoins in each jurisdiction;
• lessons from collapse of Terra stablecoins;
• anti-money laundering/combatting the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) issues; and
• central bank digital currencies (CBDC).

Real estate investment trust (REIT) markets have been rapidly evolving in Asia and the world. The rise in M&A activity has been a notable trend in various REIT markets, as REITs seek to achieve greater scale. M&A activism has also generated ripples in the REIT space. In the infrastructure sector, the ‘One Belt, One Road’ project is expected to stimulate an explosion in demand for infrastructure investment and financing. As Asian REITs and infrastructure funds continue to develop, what can they learn from more mature REIT regimes in the United States and Australia? What challenges and opportunities lie ahead for REIT markets around the world?

This session will discuss:
• key legal, tax and other issues affecting property investment in each jurisdiction;
• common investment and financing structures;
• sources of funds, including banks, bonds, funds and alternative structures; and
• issues in cross-border investments and capital flows, and the impact of local law and regulations (eg, forex restrictions, taking local security).

Environmental, social and governance (ESG) investment has gained momentum around the world and the trend is moving towards Asia, particularly in Japan since the Government Pension Investment Fund (GPIF) signed the Principles of Responsible Investments (PRI) in 2015. The International Capital Market Association has led green, social and sustainability bonds sector in capital markets and, in terms of banking sector, the Loan Market Association, the Asia Pacific Loan Market Association and the Loan Syndications and Trading Association have recently published Green Loan Principles and Sustainability Linked Loan Principles.

This session will discuss the following topics in light of sanctionsrelated provisions commonly found in financial contracts:
• economic and financial sanctions in different parts of the world;
• implications of the extraterritorial effects of sanctions;
• impact of the sanctions against Russia;
• blocking statutes and their relevance; and
• are we expecting a movement from regulation to enforcement, and what does this mean for lenders and borrowers?

This session will consider the global trend of increasing number of institutional investors in public companies, and the global trend of stewardship code and corporate governance code. The degree of ownership engagement varies among institutional investors and there are many institutional investors who do not actively monitor portfolio companies and have active ownership engagements. This type of investor exercises voting rights based on a set of generic, pre-defined criteria and external proxy advisors.

Various investment approaches consider environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) factors in portfolio selection and management (eg, excluding from portfolio based on specific ESG criteria, systematic and explicit inclusion based on ESG factors, direct corporate engagement from the perspective of risks and opportunities) and there has been an increase in institutional investors adopting such approaches. The panellists shall discuss how those changes affect public companies’ behaviour and business (eg, identifying material ESG factors, disclosure on ESG factors, new opportunity for financing).

In this session, the panel will consider:
• the practice of formal legal opinions in various types of financing transactions;
• salient/recurring issues addressed by legal opinions;
• exploring best practices or ‘market standards’; and
• sharing practices of different jurisdictions.

This session will consider:
• introduction of cases from various countries;
• activist campaigns;
• discussion between management of listed companies and activist shareholders and disclosure to the market;
• proxy fights and operation of general shareholders meeting where activist shareholders exist; and
• activist involvement in M&A (eg, activist taking a stake in a target during a takeover bid (TOB) launched by a purchaser in the midst of concerns about the fairness of TOB price, resulting in an increase of TOB price).