In the inaugural broadcast of 2025, lawyer and analyst Ross Feingold discusses the extraterritorial enforcement of US laws and regulations in the Asia-Pacific region as President Donald Trump returns to the White House. Feingold, who has lived in Asia for over twenty years and speaks fluent Mandarin, is Head of Research at Caerus Consulting and has previously worked as an in-house counsel at the Royal Bank of Scotland, Deutsche Bank, and J.P. Morgan. He is also a lecturer, political analyst, the Association of American Residents See more +
In the inaugural broadcast of 2025, lawyer and analyst Ross Feingold discusses the extraterritorial enforcement of US laws and regulations in the Asia-Pacific region as President Donald Trump returns to the White House. Feingold, who has lived in Asia for over twenty years and speaks fluent Mandarin, is Head of Research at Caerus Consulting and has previously worked as an in-house counsel at the Royal Bank of Scotland, Deutsche Bank, and J.P. Morgan. He is also a lecturer, political analyst, the Association of American Residents Overseas director, and the Asia chairman of Republicans Abroad.
The Trump administration's handling of his second term in office raises concerns about increasing legal and compliance costs for Asian firms. In the run-up to the election, Trump threatened 60% tariffs on Chinese goods and issued the first of "many" executive orders, including a 10% tariff on Chinese exports. He also threatened the BRICS nations if they undermined or dumped the US dollar for trade purposes.
Finally, Feingold shares his views on what banking and financial institutions and multinational corporations should expect from the new administration on overseas enforcement, including sanctions related to Iran and Russia and the ongoing chip and technology war between the US and China. He offers suggestions for general counsel and compliance officers in the region's financial sector to prepare for the next iteration of the Trump administration.
Next is Ben Hammond, managing partner of law firm Ashurst in Hong Kong, who discusses the city's new Stablecoin Bill, which was gazetted on December 6, 2024, and had its first reading before the Legislative Council on December 18. The bill aims to balance financial stability and consumer protection while advancing its virtual assets agenda. Stablecoins are digital assets issued by private entities that maintain a fixed value relative to a government-issued fiat currency or other reference rate. They can automate incentives, rebates, or loyalty points in digital wallets, like the Octopus program, using their programmability or the ability to input rules and data in the blockchain.
Stablecoins can also provide access to new investment avenues like tokenized funds, which use the blockchain for sales and redemptions. Assets under management are expected to climb to about US$600 billion in seven years from US$2 billion at the end of this year. Ben is also a partner in Ashurst's financial services regulatory group, leading its non-contentious regulatory practice in the territory. He has advised clients across various regulatory areas, including Goldman Sachs, on issuing an HK$800 million tokenized green bond for the Hong Kong government in February 2023. In February 2024, Ben led a team supporting HSBC as the platform provider to the Hong Kong Monetary Authority on the world's first multi-currency "digitally native" bond offering. See less -
