MACAU SAR, CHINA Trends and Developments Contributed by: João Nuno Riquito, Bruno Almeida, Belmiro Leong and Kimberley Cheong, Riquito Advogados
transparency and efficiency of corporate operations. At the same time, it clearly delineates the operational rules for shareholders’ meetings, boards of directors and supervisory bodies, and explicitly stipulates the appointment and removal procedures for members of these bodies. A major innovation introduced by the Legal Framework for Publicly Owned Enterprises consists of a periodic evaluation mechanism to assess performance and efficiency, as well as the establishment of mandatory information disclosure obligations and responsibilities for enterprises. In particular, when it comes to the lat - ter, publicly owned and publicly controlled enterprises must make key information public, including financial statements, annual operational reports, major invest - ment and procurement projects, guarantees, signifi - cant liabilities and remuneration of board members, among others. To implement an operational evaluation system, the Public Assets Supervising Authority issued Guideline No 003/DSGAP/ECP/2024, “Implementation Rules for the Operational Performance Evaluation of Public Capital Enterprises”, on 15 March 2024 and, by June 2025, the first round of performance evaluations had been successfully completed. Among the 13 public enterprises, the final scores ranged from 70 to 85 points, resulting in a satisfactory overall outcome. Financial Sector Reform The new Financial System Law (Law No 13/2023), which came into force in 2023, and the Investment Funds Law (Law No 11/2025), which came into force in 2026, have introduced requirements for structural optimisation that were previously absent from the Macau legal system. The new Financial System Law established stricter requisites for the appointment of members of the board of directors of financial institutions and an enhanced fit and proper rule book and procedure, further improving on risk management requirements and strengthening external supervision. The Investment Funds Law introduced the possibility of setting up “collective investment companies” and “limited partnership funds” in the MSAR. By doing so,
it allows existing funds to opt for an updated con - tractual model in order to expand their scope of busi - ness. These new laws emphasise the independence of boards of directors and ensure that those tasked with strategic decisions are free from the conflicts of interest that often appear within closely held corpora - tions. The law also broadens the eligibility to be a custo - dian. Because the roles of those who hold and man - age assets are explicitly listed in law, and because clear boundaries regarding fiduciary responsibilities between custodian and management entities are established, a functional system of checks and bal - ances was created. Along with frequent information disclosure require - ments, these laws replace the approach of the Com - mercial Code with a continuous monitoring model to ensure effective CG. First Steps Towards Digital Governance This started with the amendments to the Commercial Code in 2009, which introduced, as legal possibilities, the digitalisation of commercial books, the exchange of communications between a company and its share - holders by electronic means and the attendance of meetings of corporate bodies by electronic means. The most significant step towards modernisation arose from Law 28/2024, which, in very brief terms, opened the internet to Macau-based companies, allowing them to fulfil their tax obligations and, in particular, submit annual returns online. Mandatory registration submissions could also be made through online platforms. Takeaways and MSAR Moving Forward The World Economic Forum’s Global Risks Report 2026 highlights that modern CG frameworks must be based on checklist compliance for active manage - ment of global risks at the geopolitical, technological and environmental levels. It emphasises that public policies shall, inter alia: • strengthen oversight of supply chains; • consider the use and risks of AI as part of the over - all strategy;
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