Asia Pacific Financial Services Regulatory Updates, Quarter Two 2026

The Deloitte Asia Pacific Centre for Regulatory Strategy (ACRS) is pleased to share with you the key regulatory updates from our region for Q2 2026.

The second quarter saw a concentration of finalised regulatory changes and binding supervisory directives across the region, with emphasis on artificial intelligence (AI) governance, digital assets, and financial resilience.

AI governance continues to be a prominent feature of the AP regulatory landscape, with several jurisdictions taking a more hands-on supervisory approach to how financial institutions (FIs) manage AI-related risks. Frontier AI-enabled cyber risk became a cross-regional supervisory priority, with regulators in Australia, Hong Kong SAR, and Japan warning that advanced AI models are accelerating cyber threats and intensifying threat environment. Firms are expected to treat these risks as an immediate operational resilience issue, requiring near-term strengthening of cyber controls and active senior management attention. In the same vein, the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) called on banks, insurers, and superannuation trustees to strengthen board and senior management oversight of AI risk, focusing on technical literacy, cyber controls, third-party concentration risk, and post-deployment monitoring.

Digital asset markets maintained regulatory momentum as authorities continued their efforts to bring digital asset activity within clearer regulatory boundaries and tighten controls around licensing, custody, and retail investor protection. This quarter’s developments included:

• Establishing core licensing frameworks: Australia’s Digital Assets Framework received Royal Assent, Taiwan’s Executive Yuan approved a draft Virtual Asset Services Act (VASA), and Vietnam announced plans to pilot crypto and digital asset trading platforms.
• Strengthening custody, payments, and transaction controls: Hong Kong SAR granted the first stablecoin issuer licences and proposed licensing regimes for virtual asset adviser (VA) advisers and managers. Japan submitted a bill to amend its Payment Services Act (PSA) and Financial Instruments and Exchange Act (FIEA). Malaysia raised standards for digital asset exchange operators, while Thailand and the Philippines advanced transfer transparency and token listing expectations.
• Advancing tokenisation and investment products:  Singapore consulted on a risk-based prudential framework for banks’ cryptoasset exposures on permissionless blockchains. Hong Kong SAR and Malaysia progressed tokenised investment products and sukuk pilots, while Thailand advanced a proposed spot crypto ETF framework.

Financial and operational resilience saw significant updates. APRA’s amendments to Operational Risk Standard CPS 230 and a cross-industry letter set board-level expectations on geopolitical exposure mapping, scenario analysis integration, cyber resilience, and third-party concentration risk. The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) enhanced capital and liquidity standards through proposed Total Loss Absorbing Capacity (TLAC) requirements and coordinated Minimum Liquid Assets (MLA) and Liquidity Coverage Ratio (LCR) updates. The Insurance Authority in Hong Kong SAR incorporated risk-based capital incentives for infrastructure investment, while New Zealand issued its third tranche of consultation on the Deposit Takers Act 2023 (DTA).

Running alongside these thematic priorities, governance, conduct, and consumer protection were characterised by major structural and market-perimeter updates. The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) restructured scheme cost disclosures around a base expense ratio. Japan advanced a new inter-agency framework to rapidly trace, freeze, and recover stolen proceeds from fraud. Significant supervisory consolidation took place as New Zealand finalised the transfer of consumer credit regulatory authority to the Financial Markets Authority (FMA), and Malaysia’s new Consumer Credit Commission (CCC) commenced operations to license and regulate non-bank credit providers, including Buy-Now-Pay-Later (BNPL) platforms.

We invite you to read the full updates by jurisdiction and share this report with your network.

For queries or more information on these updates or other regulatory topics, please get in touch.