TWO former senior employees of UOB Kay Hian Private Limited (UOBKH) were charged on Wednesday for allegedly lying to the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) in relation to reports on a then Catalist aspirant. Lan Kang Ming, 38, and Wee Toon Lee, 34, each face three charges of providing MAS with false information in October 2018 in relation to due diligence reports on an unidentified company applying to list on the Catalist board of the Singapore Exchange. MAS said in a media statement on Wednesday that it was performing an onsite inspection of UOBKH between June and August 2018, to assess the latter's controls, policies and procedures in relation to its role as an issue manager for Initial Public Offering (IPOs). During the examination, Lan and Wee were said to have provided different versions of a due diligence report relating to background checks on a company applying to be listed on the Catalist board of the Singapore Exchange. UOBKH had acted as the issue manager
Comments
Wong Siew Ying
17 September 2014
SGX says it will proceed to set a minimum trading price of 20 cents for mainboard-listed stocks given strong public support for the requirement, in a move aimed at curbing excessive speculation and potential manipulation.
SINGAPORE: The Singapore Exchange is targeting to introduce the minimum share price requirement for mainboard-listed companies and make adjustments to the existing watch-list by March 2015, SGX announced on Wednesday (Sep 17).
The public’s view will be sought on the implementation of this requirement, as well as the set-up of independent listing committees, following a joint consultation conducted with the Monetary Authority of Singapore on measures to enhance the securities market.
SGX says it will proceed to set a minimum trading price of 20 cents for Mainboard stocks given strong public support for the requirement, in a move aimed at curbing excessive speculation and potential manipulation.
The minimum trading price will be calculated using the company’s volume-weighted average price over six months, said SGX. The review period for compliance with the requirement will be carried out on the first market day of March, June, September and December.
Companies with a share price below the threshold will be placed on a watch-list. If the company fails to exit the watch-list within the “cure period” of 36 months, the firm will be delisted. According to SGX, about 220 of the 660-plus companies on the Mainboard have share prices below 20 cents.
In addition, information of the companies’ six-month volume-weighted average price will be available on the SGX website. To this end, SGX is also proposing adjustments to the existing watch-list framework.
Under the proposed changes, companies that book pre-tax losses for three straight financial years based on full-year audited financial statements and have an average market cap less than S$40 million over the last six months, or those that do not meet the minimum trading price threshold, will be put on the watch-list.
The Exchange will also seek feedback on the proposed Listings Advisory, Listing Disciplinary and Listings Appeals Committees. The scope of the consultation will include composition of the Listings Advisory Committee, criteria for cases to be referred to the committee for example.
EARLIER SURVEILLANCE
SGX says it will also consult the market on widening its enforcement powers including offering compositions or fines of up to S$100,000 to companies in breach of listing rules. In addition, the Exchange is looking to place the current notification and privy list requirements into the Listing Rules.
Said Mr Richard Teng, Chief Regulatory Officer of the Singapore Exchange: “We are consulting on practices we rolled out in March this year to get companies to notify us when they are in discussions that could lead to a takeover, reverse takeovers and very substantial acquisitions.”
“That has worked extremely well - we have 40 notifications so far and we see a positive change in behaviour of listed companies in notifying the market much earlier. They are very mindful now of their disclosure obligations and it allows us to conduct much earlier surveillance.”
SGX added that this has enabled closer monitoring and earlier issuance of public queries when it observed unusual price or volume movements in the shares of the companies.
- CNA/do