Read publication Welcome to the 20th edition of the Asia Pacific Insurance Newsletter. This edition covers insights, pertinent insurance-specific legal issues and significant regulatory developments in Australia, China/Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan and Vietnam. If you missed earlier editions of this newsletter, you can access our newsletter…
The Competition and Consumer Commission of Singapore (CCCS) accepted voluntary undertakings from the owners and operators of the “ABC Bargain Centre,” “Valu$” and “ABC Express” retail outlets (collectively “Parties”), to cease the use of “Closing Down Sale” and “Fire Sale” advertisements from 30 September 2020. The CCCS noted that using such advertisements when firms are neither ceasing operations nor are in financial distress can constitute an unfair practice in breach of the Consumer Protection (Fair Trading) Act (Cap. 52A) (CPFTA) as they can mislead consumers into believing that there is a price benefit, which would only be available for a limited period.
In brief In the Singapore High Court decision of Ravi s/o Madasamy v Attorney-General [2020] SGHC 221, the High Court…
Read publication In this cover story by Asian-Mena Counsel,* four Baker McKenzie lawyers and two thought-leading GCs talk about key issues in sanctions and investigations. Mini vandePol (Hong Kong), head of Baker McKenzie’s Asia Pacific Compliance & Investigations Group; dispute resolution and compliance and investigations lawyer Celeste Ang (Singapore); Simon Hui, leading lawyer for…
On 5 October 2020, the Personal Data Protection (Amendment) Bill (“Bill”) was introduced and read for the first time in the Singapore Parliament. The Bill proposes material changes to the Personal Data Protection Act 2012 (No. 26 of 2012) (PDPA). Â
We had previously summarised in our earlier client alert the changes proposed during the public consultation on the Bill (“Consultation Paper”). There have been material changes between the Consultation Paper and the Bill presented in Parliament. For the purposes of this client alert, we have highlighted, in the paragraphs below, a few salient differences.
In brief Recognizing that retrenchments may now be inevitable for businesses continuing to be negatively affected by COVID-19,…
Regulators around the world are responding quickly to the rapidly evolving financial technology, or fintech, landscape. As new or emerging financial products, services or delivery channels may not meet all regulatory requirements, financial regulators internationally have implemented fintech regulatory sandbox regimes as a solution. A sandbox allows financial institutions (FI)…
The Insolvency, Restructuring and Dissolution (Amendment) Bill 2020 (“Bill”) will be introduced this month and it will establish the SIP. Under the SIP, qualifying micro and small companies (“MSCs”), which are companies with an annual revenue of less than $1 million and $10 million respectively, can benefit from the two simplified but temporary processes that has been adapted from the existing framework in the Insolvency, Restructuring and Dissolution Act 2018 (“IRDA”). These processes are the simplified debt restructuring and simplified winding up programme. It is envisioned that the SIP will provide simpler, faster and lower-cost proceedings.
InsurTech did not appear overnight. When it comes to collecting and analyzing data to assess risks and calculate…
The Competition and Consumer Commission of Singapore (CCCS) is updating six of its competition guidelines, to educate and inform businesses and competition practitioners by refining and clarifying the analytical and procedural frameworks employed by the CCCS in administering and enforcing the Competition Act (Cap. 50B) (the “Act”) in Singapore. The CCCS is conducting a public consultation for feedback on its proposed amendments to the competition guidelines in respect of the treatment of intellectual property rights, market definition, section 47 prohibition (abuse of a dominant position), enforcement, substantive assessment of mergers and merger procedures (“Public Consultation”). The closing date for submissions is 8 October 2020.