To afford securities firms’ greater flexibility in their business operations, the FSC on February 3, 2020 issued amendments to Articles 19 and 31-3 of the “Regulations Governing Securities Firms.” Key points of the amendments include the following:

1.Securities firms may be exempted from limits on the total amount they invest in equity securities issued by related parties in the handling of hedging operations for exchange traded notes (ETNs).

2.A securities dealer may, with the approval of three-fourths of the directors present at a board meeting attended by not less than two-thirds of all directors, trade in foreign bonds and foreign financial derivatives with overseas affiliated enterprises. In addition, the amended provisions define the conditions under which a securities dealer may authorize its management to conduct such trading, and place limits on trading amounts.