KUALA LUMPUR: Bursa Malaysia Bhd has announced seven more relief measures targeting a broader group of capital market players to help reduce their financial burden and provide greater flexibility during the challenging period posed by Covid-19.
It said in a statement that among key measures are an automatic one-month extension to submit financial statements for the Main and ACE Markets and a 50% rebate of the annual listing fees for 2020 listed issuers.
Bursa Malaysia said it is extending the time frame for submission of the regularisation plan from the existing 12 months to 24 months from the date they were first announced.
The exchange will give more flexibility and discretion to brokers by removing the requirement to automatically liquidate their client’s margin account if the equity in the margin account falls below 130% of the outstanding balance.
The exchange is also expanding the list of collaterals for purposes of margin financing, shortened counter service hours by market participants following the Movement Control Order (MCO), and allows an extension of time for the submission of specified physical Central Depository System (CDS) transaction forms to Bursa Malaysia Depository Sdn Bhd.
CEO Datuk Muhamad Umar Swift noted that Covid-19 has quickly evolved from being a public health issue to being a source of serious economic challenge and said: “We are making concerted efforts to ease the burden and help companies and market participants directly impacted by the crisis.
“We will continue to engage with capital market participants to ensure our endeavours are effective. We aim to aid market participants weather the sudden changes in their operating conditions or cash flows, while supporting the nation’s efforts to mitigate the economic and societal impact of the pandemic.”
The measures announced today complement the broader relief efforts under the Economic Stimulus Package 2020 (ESP 2020) announced by the government on Feb 27.
Under ESP 2020, both the Securities Commission Malaysia and Bursa Malaysia are waiving all listing-related fees for 12 months, to companies seeking a listing on the ACE and LEAP Markets, as well as for companies on the Main Market, with a market capitalisation of less than RM500 mil. – March 26, 2020, Bernama
