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Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEx) and market participants have prepared thoroughly for the new electronic disclosure requirements* that will take effect on Monday, 25 June this year.
Under the Electronic Disclosure Project, a paid announcement in newspapers will be optional so long as the Main Board listed issuer publishes the full announcement on its own website, in addition to the HKEx website. (Paid announcements are already optional for Growth Enterprise Market, or GEM, listed issuers.)
To prepare listed issuers for the new electronic disclosure regime, HKEx held 17 familiarisation sessions in March and April, following briefings for listed issuers and their agents early this year. The familiarisation sessions had a total of 2,900 issuer participants (an issuer might have participated in more than one session) and included the successful submission of nearly 6,500 documents. About 99 per cent of issuers participated in the familiarisation sessions. Almost all issuers (over 97 per cent) have confirmed in writing to HKEx their readiness for the implementation of the new regime.
HKEx has purchased newspaper advertisements, arranged online promotions and worked with banks, brokers and other organisations to raise public awareness of the Electronic Disclosure Project and the HKEx website's role as the primary channel for listed issuer announcements starting 25 June. HKEx has also held briefings on the project for Exchange Participants and information vendors. In addition, HKEx officials have given speeches and written articles on the Electronic Disclosure Project to help providers of professional services prepare for the new electronic disclosure requirements.
"We appreciate market participants' efforts in preparing for electronic disclosure,"
"Electronic disclosure will bring our issuer information dissemination regime in line with the regimes in other major international financial centres, it will strengthen the competitiveness of our securities market, and it will increase the market's attractiveness to investors," Mr Williams added.
HKEx has upgraded its securities trading system (AMS/3, the Third Generation Automatic Order Matching and Execution System), its Issuer Information feed System (IIS), its e-Submission System (ESS), its Electronic Publication System (EPS) and the HKEx website to prepare for the new disclosure requirements. As a result of the upgrades:
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The email/mobile alert service available through the Investment Service Centre on the HKEx website now offers expanded stock coverage and more frequent alerts. | |
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The HKEx website can display the latest listed company announcements by headline categories and document title. Visitors can also search archives by headline categories and document title. | |
| AMS/3 shows news alert whenever an announcement is posted on HKEx website. | |
| The IIS supports more effective dissemination of issuer information. | |
| The ESS and EPS have higher system capacity and tighter security controls. |
HKEx is arranging further promotions starting in the middle of this month to keep investors abreast of the changes and to remind them the HKEx website will be the primary channel for accessing listed issuer announcements from 25 June.
| * | Details of the new requirements are in the HKEx news release issued 23 March this year, which is at: http://www.hkex.com.hk/news/hkexnews/070323news.htm. |
Notes:
The e-Submission System is an electronic channel through which issuers can submit documents for publication on the HKEx website or GEM website. It will be the sole recognised means of submitting a document to HKEx for publication on the websites from 25 June.
The Electronic Publication System publishes issuer documents on the HKEx website or the GEM website after they are submitted to HKEx.
The Issuer Information feed System transmits issuer disclosures electronically on a real-time basis to the market via licensed information vendors. Presently there are four vendors receiving information through the IIS. They are Bloomberg LP, QuotePower International Ltd, Reuters Ltd and Thomson Financial Ltd.
From Paper to Paperless - Update on the Electronic Disclosure Project (EDP)
