Bursa Malaysia Securities Berhad Discretionary Financing

Bursa Malaysia Securities Berhad (Bursa Securities) today announced that Participating Organisations (“POs”)can now offer to all retail clients, apart from margin financing, an additional mode of financing in the form of Discretionary Financing (DF). This DF is part of Bursa Securities’ ongoing efforts to enhance liquidity in the market and encourage more retail investor participation in the market.

Where a client does not subscribe for DF, a client is required to pay the PO for his purchase position by T+3 and the PO must settle the trade with the Bursa Malaysia Securities Clearing Sdn Bhd (“the Clearing House”) by T+3.

With the introduction of DF, whilst the PO’s timeframe for the settlement of its client’s purchase position vis-à-vis the Clearing House still remains the same at T+3, the POs may now allow a client who subscribes for DF to pay for his purchase position to the PO by T+7 instead of by T +3, thereby financing its client’s purchase position for the period between T+4 and T +7.

The introduction of DF is effected through amendments to the business rules of Bursa Securities and issuance of directives. The complete text of the amendments and directives is available for reference on Bursa Malaysia’s website at www.bursamalaysia.com.

The amendments and directives will take effect on 23 December 2005.