Thailand, Malaysia, S'pore first to implement Asean scheme

The scheme aims to facilitate fund-raising activities as well as enhance investment opportunities within Asean capital markets. 

Issuers offering equity and plain-debt securities in multiple jurisdictions within Asean will only need to comply with a single set of disclosure standards for prospectuses, known as the Asean Disclosure Standards, thus bringing about greater efficiency and cost savings for issuers. 

The scheme operates on an opt-in basis and Asean members will adopt it as and when they are ready to do so. Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand are the first three jurisdictions in the region to implement the programme.

It replaces the Asean and Plus Standards Scheme, which was announced in June 2009 and is one of the capital-market initiatives undertaken by the ACMF as part of the regional capital-market integration plan endorsed by Asean finance ministers at their meeting in April that year in Pattaya. 

Lee Chuan Teck, chairman of the ACMF and assistant managing director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore, said: “The implementation of the scheme is another significant achievement in the ACMF’s continuing efforts to foster Asean capital-market integration. With the scheme in place, issuers will only need to prepare one set of prospectus for a multi-jurisdiction offering in the region.

“The ACMF hopes that this will encourage more companies to offer securities across Asean and help promote Asean as an integrated capital market for fund-raising,” he added.

Ranjit Ajit Singh, chairman of Securities Commission Malaysia, said: “The initiative represents a significant milestone towards creating a more efficient environment for access to capital across the region, and is a key initiative by Asean capital-market regulators to promote greater cross-border investment flows and grow the region’s capital markets. 

“The fully harmonised disclosure standards will allow issuers more seamless access to financing opportunities within the region while facilitating investors’ decision-making in multi-jurisdiction offerings.”

Vorapol Socatiyanurak, secretary-general of Thailand’s Securities and Exchange Commission, said: “I am proud of this achievement. The arrival of the fully harmonised set of disclosure standards simply proves that the ACMF is determined to make the fund-raising process most efficient for companies looking to expand their businesses. It creates more opportunity for Asean to channel our savings to promote the growth of our region. 

“I hope that in the near future, more Asean securities regulators will join Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand in adopting the Asean Disclosure Standards, enlarging the impact of the scheme,” he added.