SGX RegCo Board Members,
Tan Boon Gin, CEO of SGX RegCo; and
Fellow RegCo colleagues;
1. A very good morning and thank you for coming this morning to join me for the SGX Daily Securities Market Opening Ceremony.
2. As you know, it is SGX’s 20th anniversary celebration this year. For this year, we are striking the market opening gong every day, to commemorate SGX’s many partnerships, friendships, as well as important milestones and achievements.
3. It is my pleasure and honour to have with us today, my fellow SGX RegCo Board Members and all of you to officially mark the market open, to celebrate SGX RegCo’s Second Year Anniversary.
4. When we first set up SGX RegCo two years ago, we set out to regulate our markets more meaningfully. Previously at the SGX Regulatory Symposium, I mentioned that we are a “learning organisation”. How we put this into practice when we regulate, is to take into account different considerations, views and solutions, in order to achieve a balance that is “just right”. This isn’t a one-off exercise but a continuous process of experimentation.
5. In all that we do, we must always keep in mind our key principles. We need to balance between our roles as regulator and market shaper. As a regulator, we need to ensure that our regulation remains relevant in addressing specific harms in the market, and that we are open and transparent in our actions. As a market shaper, we need to be proactive at listening to feedback from our stakeholders, and work closely with our market community to develop a vibrant marketplace without imposing unnecessary costs. This will ensure that we do not over-regulate the market. Regulate too much, and lo and behold, we may have no market left. Regulate too little, and we will end up with a market that is so unsafe, no investor nor company will want to be a part of it.
6. Over the past two years, I am pleased to note that we expended much effort in trying to strike a balance between our two roles. Our Listing Compliance and Surveillance teams have taken a more targeted approach in dealing directly with errant companies and market misconduct, through respectively, the careful use of Notices of Compliance to deal with specific scenarios, and the selective use of Trade with Caution alerts to warn the market of unusual price movements.
7. We have also make good progress in engaging our market professionals to raise standards across the industry. We reviewed the Code of Corporate Governance and Listing Rules to improve disclosure requirements, collaborated with SISV to review valuation practices, and recently, released the second edition of our Trade Surveillance Handbook and the inaugural MAS-SGX Trade Surveillance Guide. We have also streamlined our listing review process for Mainboard IPOs and obtained regulatory approval for a variety of business projects including the launch of PTS2 and novel derivatives products.
8. All of you have worked hard to make this happen, and I thank you all for your efforts. As we move on to the third year of SGX RegCo’s operations, we will face new challenges in shaping a market that continues to serve the needs of our shareholders and listed issuers, and getting more market professionals on board to increase the overall standards of market conduct. We also need to take on new opportunities through the use of AI and technology to improve our existing processes. I hope we will continue to work together as a dynamic and forward-looking organisation.
9. The insights and views of my fellow RegCo Board members have helped lead us in achieving two very fruitful years and I would also like to express my appreciation at this juncture. Please join me in celebrating RegCo’s 2nd Anniversary by counting down to the Securities Market open, and I look forward to enjoying breakfast with all of you later.
10. Thank you.
