SGX sets up independent listing panels to uphold market quality

Three listing committees to advise the market regulator on listing, disciplinary and appeal matters

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SGX sets up independent listing panels to uphold market quality

Three listing committees to advise the market regulator on listing, disciplinary and appeal matters

Kenneth Lim, Business Times
16 September 2015

The private sector from Oct 7 will play a larger role in determining who gets to list on the Singapore Exchange (SGX) and what happens to those who breach listing rules.

SGX has formed three independent committees to advise the market regulator on listing, disciplinary and appeal matters ahead of a new disciplinary framework that will take effect in three weeks. Members of the committee come from various segments of the investment and finance communities.

Blackstone Singapore chairman Gautam Banerjee will head the 15-member Listings Advisory Committee, which will advise SGX on listing policies, as well as listing applications to the mainboard which meet certain referral criteria. The criteria include those covering novel or unprecedented issues, requiring specialist expertise, and involving matters of public interest.

Citibank Asia corporate regional treasurer Eddie Tan and DBS Bank senior executive adviser Eric Ang will jointly chair the 14-member Disciplinary Committee, which will handle serious breaches of listing rules.

The seven-member Appeals Committee will be led by Senior Counsel and Rajah & Tann regional head of dispute resolution Francis Xavier. The Appeals Committee will offer an avenue for parties to appeal against disciplinary actions.

The immediate impetus for the new committees is a new disciplinary framework that will take effect on Oct 7. The new framework will give SGX the ability to impose fines on issuers’ office-holders and issue managers, as well as to restrict their access to the market. In a response to a public consultation on the issue, SGX explained that the new disciplinary powers offer alternatives in cases where the issuance of warning letters or reprimands is not severe enough and delisting or suspension are too harsh.

The Listings Advisory Committee, meanwhile, is aimed at giving SGX the benefit of an independent, industry-led body that can help SGX to better handle complex or unusual listing applications. If the committee had been in existence in the year ended June 2012, about 30 per cent of listing applications would have been referred, SGX estimated.

If SGX chooses not to abide by the Listings Advisory Committee’s recommendations, the matter will be escalated to SGX’s regulatory conflicts committee or even to the SGX board of directors.

SGX chief regulatory officer Tan Boon Gin, who said he did not expect the Listings Advisory Committee to significantly increase the time-to-market for applicants, described the committees as part of a longer-term plan for the Singapore market.

“All these are long-term measures that will improve market structure as well as processes and this will lead to a better quality market that we think will lead to better quality listings,” Mr Tan said.

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