South Korea’s KOSPI closed at a fresh record high of 5,969.6 on Tuesday, driven by heavy institutional buying that propelled the benchmark toward the symbolic 6,000 level. Beneath the surface, however, a less sanguine indicator has caught the attention of risk-focused investors. Loan transaction balances, a key metric for monitoring potential short-selling activity, have reached…
The AI regulatory landscape across Asia in early 2026 presents a paradox. Governments across the region have intensified their efforts to establish governance frameworks for artificial intelligence with unusual speed and seriousness. The approaches they have chosen are diverging so rapidly that compliance costs for companies operating across multiple jurisdictions are rising faster than the…
South Korea’s Framework Act on Artificial Intelligence Development and Establishment of Trust, commonly known as the AI Basic Act, went into enforcement on January 22, 2026. The timing matters. South Korea is now the first country in Asia with a comprehensive, binding AI governance law that carries extraterritorial reach, transparency obligations, and mandatory risk assessments…
January 1, 2026 brought a cluster of regulatory changes in China that, individually, might be described as incremental. Taken together, they represent a material shift in how foreign companies must structure their operations, manage their data, and price their risk. The most technically significant change is the new Value-Added Tax Law, which replaced the existing…
The VAT Law was adopted by the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress in December 2024 after extended public consultation. While the government has emphasized that the new framework is designed to maintain the existing tax burden rather than increase it, the implementation regulations introduce several adjustments that multinational finance teams are reviewing carefully….
The first trading week of 2026 sent a clear message to global investors who had been underweighting Asian equities: this region is not waiting for permission to rally. South Korea’s Kospi closed at a record 4,309.63 on January 2, climbing 2.27% in a single session. Samsung Electronics surged roughly 7% after reports that customers praised…
Combined new vehicle sales by six major Japanese automakers in the United States rose 2.4% in 2025 to just over 6 million units, according to figures released on Monday. The results, which span Toyota Motor, Honda Motor, Nissan Motor, Subaru, Mazda, and Mitsubishi Motors, paint a picture of an industry that managed to grow through…
