Welcome back to Continuum Risk Update
Every Friday we pull the top Asia headlines on digital-asset regulation, cyber risk, industry moves and insurance signals, with concise takeaways and practical actions for insurers and corporate risk teams.
1) Regulatory
Hong Kong explores expansion of regulated crypto product scope — Regulators signalled further development of Hong Kong’s virtual asset framework, including potential expansion into products such as margin and perpetual trading under supervised conditions. The move reinforces Hong Kong’s intent to grow its digital asset market within a tightly controlled regulatory perimeter, raising expectations around leverage controls, market integrity safeguards, and governance standards for licensed platforms.
Hong Kong / SFC grants a new virtual asset trading platform licence (VDX) — Hong Kong added another licensed VATP, reinforcing that regulators are tightening the perimeter around who can legally offer trading, and raising baseline expectations around governance, AML, custody arrangements and operational resilience for Hong Kong-facing counterparties.
2) Hacking & Physical Risks
Japan / Asahi Group confirms data leak following cyberattack — A major Japanese conglomerate confirmed leaked information after a cyber incident, reinforcing how quickly incidents become legal, reputational, and third-party exposure events, especially when employee/partner data is involved.
Ransomware activity remains structurally high going into 2026 — A February threat-intel write-up (drawing on Searchlight Cyber’s reporting) flagged record ransomware-group activity and accelerating victim growth, a reminder for APAC firms that extortion disruption risk remains persistent even when headlines shift.
3) Industry & Markets
Hong Kong / Solana’s “Accelerate APAC” pushes tokenisation and payments narrative — Industry messaging is shifting from memecoin cycles toward tokenised assets, settlement and payments infrastructure, which increases operational and counterparty dependence on smart-contract integrity, vendor controls, and incident playbooks.
Insurance market build-out / global carriers target Southeast Asia growth — HDI Global highlighted Southeast Asia as a growth region under its 2026–2029 strategy, signalling continued capacity interest in the region alongside sharper expectations on risk selection and control evidence.
4) Insurance Spotlight
Japan / Sompo receives regulatory approvals for Aspen acquisition — Sompo confirmed it has received required antitrust and insurance regulatory approvals to complete its Aspen acquisition, a notable capacity and specialty-lines signal as large carriers continue reshaping global underwriting footprints.
Asia market signal / commercial pricing continues to soften (Q4 2025) — Marsh’s index continues to show rate decreases in Asia (including cyber and financial/professional lines in many markets), but competitive pricing does not remove underwriting scrutiny on controls, governance, and incident readiness.
