Previously - Cultural Roots, Belonging, and the Fear of Change: What’s Next for Inclusion? with guests Ritu Bhasin and Jeiz Robles
Read the papers through hkufintech.com/feature
Building Open Finance: From Policy to Infrastructure | Written by: Douglas W. Arner, Christine Meng Lu Wang, Ross P. Buckley, and Dirk A. Zetzsche, in partnership with CFTE Academic and Industry Paper Series. LEARN MORE
Listen on your favorite podcast apps
LISTEN ON PLAYER
Looking Back Looking Forward
JUMP AHEAD TO THE TOPIC YOU WANT TO LISTEN
On some devices, click this icon to open the chapter guide.
-
3:18 Christopher Cottrell: Border Flashpoints, Political Storms, Gambling Battles, and Thailand’s Coup Risk
-
7:31 Balancing Risk and Reward - Why Thailand Still Attracts Investors Despite Political Whiplash
-
13:19 Crosscurrents of Influence - How Chinese Heritage Shapes Thailand’s Regional Positioning
-
17:06 Thailand’s Border Voices - Resilience, Youth, and Hopes for a Rising Southeast Asia
-
20:07 Richard Butler & Haider Mannan: Sanctions, Screening, and the Second Trump Effect
-
22:38 From One-Off Checks to Full-Chain Insight, The New Reality of Investment Screening
-
25:22 Sanctions and Strategy - From Iran-Israel Tensions to Asia’s Exposure Under Trump 2.0
-
34:31 No Place to Hide - AI Surveillance, Iranian Oil Transfers, and the New Face of Sanctions Enforcement
-
39:39 Who's Really in Charge? When Data Scientists Meet Compliance Veterans
-
48:43 FCPA and Tariff Shocks - What’s Old, What’s Next for Compliance in Asia Under Trump 2.0
-
55:13 Staying Ahead, Staying Open - Asia’s Next Chapter in Risk and Compliance
On some devices, click this icon to open the chapter guide.
Geopolitical Risk: Thai Tensions / Sanctions, Tariffs & FCPA Enforcement in Asia
Ep #73 with Christopher Cottrell, Richard Butler and Haider Mannan
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this podcast are solely those of the host and speakers.
This episode focuses on geopolitical risk. In the initial spotlight segment, we converse with veteran journalist and Asia-watcher Christopher Cottrell military tensions in Thailand and what it means for the viability of that country’s newly proposed gaming law.
Following that, we chat with AML veteran Richard Butler of Dow Jones and data scientist Haider Mannan of BigTXN on enforcement of the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, sanctions and tariffs following recent actions by the Trump administration and the recent airstrikes on Iran
Christopher Cottrell lives in Thailand and has covered the Indo-Pacific region since 1997 – contributing to the Boston Globe, Christian Science Monitor, CNN, The Guardian, Macau Business, New York Times and the South China Morning Post.
He spent 18-years in China and has been reporting on geopolitics in the Pacific Islands and Southeast Asia for the past four years, having edited UK-based Winna Media's white papers on the Thai Entertainment Complex bill since 2024.
Richard Butler is the vice president and APAC head of risk and research for Dow Jones & Co. Based in Sydney, Australia, he is responsible for helping businesses with risk and compliance strategies offsetting various forms of regulatory and commercial risk – such as the provision of high-quality, accurate and comprehensive data for identifying, evaluating and monitoring varying types of risk.
Before joining Dow Jones, Richard was the AVP for treasury services for Australia and New Zealand at JPMorgan Chase, where he had responsibility for ensuring JPMorgan’s financial institutional and non-bank financial institution clients in Australia and New Zealand adhered to JPMorgan’s best in class know-your-customer, compliance, due diligence and counter-terrorist financing standards. He started his career at ABN AMRO Bank, where he was both the CAAML (Client Awareness and Anti-Money Laundering) officer and sales manager for ABN AMRO Treasury Solutions Group, Dublin, Ireland.
Richard is skilled in governance, risk management, and compliance (GRC), as well as team management, direct sales, relationship building and financial analysis and the APAC region more broadly.
Haider Mannan is the CEO and founder of risk intelligence data provider BigTXN. He is a data scientist and subject matter expert in investment screening, specializing in ESG controversies, global sanctions and investment restrictions. He sits on the UK board of the Association of Certified Sanctions Specialists and the membership committee of the UK Sustainable Investment and Finance Association. Haider is also a member of PRMIA's advisory expert group on investment risk.
PODCAST DISCUSSION. The conversation commences with Chris recounting the threats to Thailand’s security and stability with the ongoing land border closure and standoff with Cambodia. He recounts with Regulatory Ramblings host Ajay Shamdasani that notwithstanding its 22 prior coups and military rule and reputation as a fragile democracy, Thailand has long been the darling of the global investment community which has long touted its positive long-term economic fundamentals.
He adds the country has curried favor with the West by opening up in ways that many would regard as progressive such as permitting the sale of cannabis products and paraphernalia, permitting same-sex unions and seeking to liberalize its gaming sector by tendering a recent bill. Yet, given the July 1 suspension by the country’s Constitutional Court of Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra over ethics violations and the weekslong border spat with Cambodia roiling fears of Thailand’s 23rd coup d’état, implementation of the new gaming law has been scuttled. The discussion then shifts to Haider who shares his thoughts on how data can help investment screening. He and Richard comment on how recent changes in the sanctions landscape, given the current geopolitical climate under the second Trump administration pose a challenge for compliance and legal staff at banking and financial institutions and multinational corporations writ large. Related to that are concerns on the implications for Asia on extraterritorial enforcement of the much-dreaded US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and tariff imposition by the White House – and the prospects for regulatory retaliation by the rest of the world. It’s worth noting that on June 9, Matthew Galeotti, head of the US Department of Justice’s (DOJ) criminal division that under new FCPA guidelines now in place, it would Enforce the Act “Firmly but fairly.” The comments followed the President Trump’s announcement earlier this year that the DOJ would hold off on FCPA enforcement following a review of current standards because it was thought the existing regulatory regime put US businesses at a disadvantage when they competed abroad. Haider and Richard also discuss why geopolitics matter and the need for lawyers and risk managers to go beyond mere financial news tracking. The conversation concludes with discussion of a recent case in which the US DOJ’s Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC) sanctioned entities/companies in Hong Kong and mainland China that were involved in transferring Iranian oil to China.
Regulatory Ramblings podcasts is brought to you by The University of Hong Kong - Reg/Tech Lab, HKU-SCF Fintech Academy, Asia Global Institute, and HKU-edX Professional Certificate in Fintech, with support from the HKU Faculty of Law.
Useful links in this episode:
You might also be interested in:
-
Must have book by Ross Buckley, Douglas Arner & Dirk Zetzsche - FinTech: Finance, Technology & Regulation
-
Building Better Financial Systems: FinTech Sustainability - Research
-
HKU-SCF Fintech Academy - website
-
Asia Global Institute - website
-
Most sought after Fintech course on edX - Introduction to Fintech
Regulatory Ramblings Podcasts List
Regulatory Ramblings Podcast
Welcome to Regulatory Ramblings, a podcast from a team at The University of Hong Kong on the intersection of all things pertaining to finance, technology, law and regulation. Hosted by the HKU Reg/Tech Lab, HKU-Standard Chartered FinTech Academy Asia Global Institute, and the HKU-edX Professional Certificate in FinTech, join us as we hear from luminaries across multiple fields and professions as they share their candid thoughts in a stress-free environment - rather than the soundbites one typically hears from the mainstream press.
Regulatory Ramblings is a forum for those that appreciate long-form conversation. While it is something that may be regarded as lost art of an older time, it is nonetheless sorely needed in an age when glibness and flippancy pass for analysis in conventional journalism.
Having said that, we are grateful to be able to avail ourselves of modern technological resources to bring you chats with people you are probably not going to hear from elsewhere.
Ajay Shamdasani is a veteran writer, editor and researcher based in Hong Kong. He holds an AB in history and government from Ripon College, JD and MIPCT degrees from the University of New Hampshire Franklin Pierce Law School, and an LLM in financial regulation from the Illinois Institute of Technology’s Chicago-Kent College of Law.
His 15-year long career as a financial and legal journalist began as deputy editor of A Plus magazine – the journal of the Hong Kong Institute of Certified Public Accountants. From there, he assumed the helm of Macau Business magazine as its editor-in-chief, and later, joined Asialaw magazine as its deputy editor. More recently, he spent close to seven years as a senior correspondent with Thomson Reuters’ subscription-based trade-wire service Regulatory Intelligence/Compliance Complete (previously called Complinet) in Hong Kong. While there, he covered regulatory developments in that city, as well as Singapore, India and South Korea.
