Communication and Outreach - Strategic Engagements with Stakeholders

Communication and Outreach

The SC’s investor education initiatives, via InvestSmart® and various initiatives leveraged digital media, television, and radio to conduct public outreach, with the objective of increasing investment literacy and public awareness of unlicensed activities and scams. These efforts are carried out through multiple digital platforms to better reach Malaysians and provide timely notifications, reminders, and guidance to prevent the public from falling prey to unlicensed activities and scams. On-the-ground interaction with investors is another critical component of InvestSmart® and is a key part of campaigns engaging both urban and rural communities across Malaysia. InvestSmart®’s on-the-ground activities includes InvestSmart® @SC, face-to-face engagements, InvestSmart® collaborative events with strategic partners such as BNM’s Karnival Kewangan, Minggu Saham Amanah by Permodalan Nasional Malaysia (PNB), Bursa Marketplace and many more.

Furthermore, InvestSmart® organises its very own large-scale annual flagship event that serves to provide and nurture investors with investment knowledge, helping them participate in the capital market while being safeguarded from scams and illegal schemes. There are two such events conducted annually: the first event, usually held earlier in 2023, is organised outside of Klang Valley while the latter is within.

Mitigating Systemic Risks And Promoting Financial Stability

Enhanced Risk Governance Framework

In 2021, the SC-wide risk governance framework was enhanced as part of an overall initiative to have an effective integrated and predictive risk surveillance to maintain regulatory agility.

The structured risk governance framework integrated the wider spectrum of risks such as technology, cyber and conduct risk at the SC’s Systemic Risk Oversight Committee (SROC) and Accounting, Market and Corporate Surveillance Committee (ACMS).

Intensified surveillance

The SC continued to intensify its surveillance of systemic risk to maintain market resilience and stability. Regular SROC engagements were held to deliberate concerns emanating from various segments across the capital market. Domestic equity and bond market, foreign fund flows and trade participation continued to be monitored closely for potential stress points.

In addition, measures and economic stimulus packages introduced by the government to weather the impact of COVID-19, market trading conduct and the financial position of listed companies were among the focus areas for discussion.

Thematic assessments

The SC also conducted thematic assessments covering investors’ fund flows, the position of firms, and policy decisions to ascertain the possible impact on the capital market. In 2021, the SC reviewed and enhanced its crisis indicators on potential emerging risks in the
capital market.

The enhanced crisis indicators provided a reference point for escalation to SROC when the identified indicators and triggers materialised and ensured prompt response to manage and prevent any issues of concern that might lead to a systemic crisis.

Joint regulatory discussions

In 2021, the SC conducted frequent joint regulatory discussions with other authorities such as Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) and Labuan Financial Services Authority (Labuan FSA) to identify systemic risk concern areas within the financial and capital markets in Malaysia.

Monitoring of various components of the capital market

The SC continued its efforts to undertake a methodological and integrated approach to ensure any potential systemic risk was being monitored, mitigated, or managed. Figure 1 highlights the findings from the following risk assessments on the various components of the capital market.