Singapore Exchange Regulation (SGX RegCo) today released its inaugural “Findings and Recommendations on Continuing Sponsorship Work” publication which aims to highlight areas for improvement following its observations from reviews and inspections of sponsors.
The Catalist regime has two types of Sponsors – Full Sponsors who generally conduct introducing activities including preparing companies for an IPO on Catalist – and Continuing Sponsors who work with companies on continuing listing obligations. A total of 20 Sponsors are qualified to perform continuing sponsorship work of whom 16 can also conduct introducing work.
Today’s publication focuses on four areas of continuing sponsorship work, namely:
- Client Acceptance: Due Diligence Standards for continuing sponsorship work
- Assessment of Suitability of Board and Key Management of sponsored issuers
- Continuous Monitoring of sponsored issuers
- Conflict of Interest and Sponsor Independence
“Our sponsors are the linchpin of the Catalist regime, protecting the interests of both investors and issuers. SGX RegCo regularly reviews the work of those we regulate including continuing sponsors and we are happy today to share our observations and lessons learnt. We firmly believe this publication will increase transparency, promote best practices and result in greater accountability within the regime,” said Tan Boon Gin, CEO of SGX RegCo.
The publication is part of SGX RegCo’s initiatives to provide transparency on our expectations and to raise standards across the market community. Other similar efforts with sponsors include the annual dialogue on IPO and continuing sponsorship activities and one-on-one engagements with certain sponsors to address key concerns and issues.
More broadly, SGX RegCo has also worked with market participants, including the Law Society of Singapore to produce a best practices guide for legal professionals in their dealings with listed companies, and the Singapore Institute of Surveyors and Valuers and the Institute of Valuers and Appraisers, Singapore, to enhance valuation work done on real estate and businesses, and standards of the profession.
The “Findings and Recommendations on Continuing Sponsorship Work” publication is found here.
