The SC was awarded with the certification on 22 December last year. The formal award ceremony organised by SIRIM will be held in Petaling Jaya today and be officiated by the Minister of Science, Technology and Environment Datuk Law Hieng Ding.
The scope of certification covers the issuance of licence to market participants in the securities and futures industries in Malaysia namely, dealers, dealer's representatives, investment advisers, investment representatives, fund managers, fund manager's representatives, futures brokers, futures broker's representatives, futures fund managers, futures fund manager's representatives, futures trading adviser and futures trading adviser's representatives.
In accordance with the ISO 9002 performance standards, specific time frames have been set for the processing of applications for new licences and renewals. The time frames are:
All new corporate applications that are complete upon submission will be processed within two months;
All new representative applications that are complete upon submission will be processed within three weeks; and
All renewal applications that are complete upon submission will be processed within three weeks.
The ISO standards, which were developed by the Geneva-based International Organization of Standardization, are technical specifications, which are constantly used as a yardstick for quality management. The certification is recognised by some 130-member countries.
As the certification was awarded under the old standards, the SC will soon embark to upgrade its certificate to the revised ISO 9000:2000 standards within the three-year transition period.
The SC's decision to pursue the much sought after certification was in response to the Government's call for ISO 9000 standards to be implemented in all government agencies.
The SC's attainment of the ISO 9002 certification is also in line with the Capital Market Masterplan's objective of, among others, creating a more facilitative regulatory environment for participants in the Malaysian capital market.