Compliance & Ethics

The HKMA has alerted the public to fraudulent websites and internet banking login screens impersonating four Hong Kong banks: The Bank of East Asia, Shanghai Commercial Bank, Chong Hing Bank, and Fubon Bank (Hong Kong). The alert restates that banks do not send SMS or emails with embedded hyperlinks for transactions and do not request sensitive credentials. Compliance teams should treat it as a prompt to review fraud controls, customer communications, and incident response procedures.

The Eurosystem has opened a call for expression of interest for euro area e-commerce and m-commerce merchants to take part in the 12-month digital euro pilot, with applications due by 17:00 CET on October 27, 2026. Participation is voluntary and unpaid, but selected merchants must sign a merchant participation agreement with the ECB and arrange a contract with an acquiring pilot PSP. Compliance teams at merchants, PSPs, and acquirers should assess the contractual, operational, and regulatory implications now.

The ACPR released a three-part video series marking the 10th anniversary of its Fintech-Innovation hub. It reinforces the regulator's view that innovation, regulation, and supervision must advance together, and it highlights the FinTech Charter, which commits the ACPR to initial feedback within two weeks. The release creates no new obligations, but it signals supervisory priorities, especially around AI, and shows how firms can engage early with the regulator.

The Deutsche Bundesbank announced a multi-ISIN auction on September 16, 2026, to increase two existing federal bonds (2047 and 2056 maturities), with a market maintenance quota of EUR $2.5 Billion. Compliance teams at Bundesbank Bidding Group members and institutions with Bund exposure should confirm bidding eligibility, operational readiness, and settlement controls ahead of the tight same-day bidding window.

In a speech in Dublin, EIOPA's Chair framed Ireland's pension consolidation, the new authorization regime, and the MyFuture auto-enrolment fund as a major transition that places heavy demands on trustee governance and data quality. The speech signals a shift toward forward-looking, risk-based supervision and urges schemes to begin authorization preparations now. Compliance teams at schemes, providers, and sponsors should treat it as a supervisory signal, not as new binding rules.

In a keynote at the Nordic Financial Crime and Sanctions Forum, AMLA Executive Board Member Rikke-Louise Ørum Petersen set out how the authority will build a common European view of risk, improve the use of financial intelligence, and turn those insights into more consistent supervision. The speech is not binding, but it signals near-term milestones that compliance teams should plan for: private-sector information-sharing partnerships from July 2027 and AMLA direct supervision from 2028.

ASIC Form 545 is the statement a liquidator lodges to confirm that notices were sent to persons on the final list or supplementary list of contributories under Regulation 5.6.62. It must be lodged within one month of the notices being sent. Late lodgement triggers fees, and a form is not treated as lodged until ASIC accepts it. This is a procedural form, not a new rule, but it matters for compliance teams involved in insolvency and wind-up processes.