On 8 October 2019, Dentons Rodyk hosted the inaugural Dentons Global Financial Markets Regulatory and Disputes Forum in Singapore which was repeated on 11 October 2019 in Hong Kong. Dentons lawyers from Sydney (Louise Massey), Toronto (Tracy Molino and Ara Basmadjian), Shanghai (Nancy Sun and Frank Qu), Beijing (Raymond Zhu), Frankfurt (Michael Huertas), Hong Kong (Robert Rhoda and Richard Keady), London (Celyn Armstrong), Chicago (Stephen Senderowitz), New York (Doug Henkin) and Singapore (Koh Kia Jeng and Jacqueline Loke) shared their views on recent regional regulatory enforcement and litigation developments as well as global financial markets regulatory trends.

The Singapore Forum was opened by Mr. Philip Jeyaretnam S.C., Dentons Rodyk’s global-vice chair and ASEAN chief executive. In his welcome address, Mr. Jeyaretnam noted that “what [our combination with Dentons] enables us to do is to assemble so much talent in the room, which gives us the opportunity for us to interact with our clients, and for those clients also to contribute to the conversation.”

Keith Brandt, Managing Partner of Dentons Hong Kong, opened the second Forum, by thanking Dentons’ locally based clients for their unstinting support during this time of difficulty in Hong Kong.

The Forums began with Panel 1 where the panellists shared regional regulatory updates from their respective jurisdictions and the regulatory and enforcement priorities of their regulators.  Key issues analysed included enforcement trends for 2020, the increased focus of various regulators on improving the quality of financial institutions, the focus on culture/ conduct and accountability and cyber and crypto.

In Panel 2, the panellists fielded questions on a wide range of global issues, including individual accountability regimes, cryptocurrency and increasing accountability among top management in financial institutions, focus on secondary violators and, cyber fraud.

In Singapore, guest speaker Mr Chew Chin Yee, Head of Regulatory Development and Policy/Strategic Planning Office at the Singapore Exchange Regulation (“SGX Regco”) shared the SGX’s current enforcement approach and provided future insights as well as regulator priorities.

In Hong Kong, guest speaker, Alastair Campbell, Chairman of Bridger Strategic Intelligence provided his views on the recent failed attempt by the Hong Kong Exchange to acquire the London Stock Exchange and the macro implications behind the intended transaction.

As an adjunct to the forums, Dentons lawyers in Singapore visited the Monetary Authority of Singapore, the Singapore Exchange, as well as institutional clients HSBC, DBS Bank and Maybank Kim-Eng and in Hong Kong, interacted with 100 clients at a reception at the Hong Kong Club.

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