SIDC seminar to educate capital market participants on compliance culture and systems

Kuala Lumpur, 11 November 1999

The Securities Industry Development Centre (SIDC) of the Securities Commission (SC) will be organising a Seminar on Enhancing Compliance in the Malaysian Capital Market on 17 November 1999 at the SC Building. The seminar will provide an overview of the compliance function as well as practical insights into operationalising this function.

The seminar is timely in view of the mandatory requirement in the Business Rules of exchanges and the SC's Guidelines on Unit Trust Funds for stockbroking, futures broking and unit trust management companies to have a compliance officer.

In view of the compliance requirements and the positive effect that a strong compliance culture would have on market confidence, the seminar was designed to address a broad range of compliance matters and emphasise the need and urgency of strengthening the compliance infrastructure in the Malaysian capital market.

The seminar, which is expected to benefit company directors, senior managers, legal officers, compliance officers and fund managers will, among others, cover the following topics:

Compliance in the Malaysian Capital Market: An Overview
Strengthening the Compliance Infrastructure & International Practices
An Effective Compliance Programme: What it Entails
The Code of Ethics
Autopsies of Malpractices: Case Studies

Senior SC officials and experienced, local and foreign industry practitioners will be speaking at the seminar and include:

Dato' Ainum Mohd Saaid, Deputy Chief Executive, SC;
John J. McDermott Jr, First Vice-President and Assistant General Counsel, Director of Global Corporate and Institutional Group Compliance, Merrill Lynch, New York;
Devanesan Evanson, Senior Vice-President, Compliance & Inspection, Market Supervision Group, Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange (KLSE);
Norman Afandy, Manager, Compliance, KL Mutual Fund Bhd;
Steven Lai Choon Lim, General Manager, OSK Futures & Options Sdn Bhd;
Bruce Bromberg, Regional Head of Law & Compliance, Morgan Stanley Dean Witter Asia; and
Sharkawi Alis, Director, Market Supervision Division, SC.

Interested parties may contact Zainab Ismail/ Rosma Abdul Azid at telephone number 03-654 8848 or facsimile number 03-6515811. Details of the seminar are also available on the SC Website at http://www.sc.com.my.

SECURITIES COMMISSION MALAYSIA

Issued on behalf of the Securities Commission. Members of the press requiring assistance may contact the Corporate Affairs Department at tel no. 03-6548513 (Ann Teoh) / 03-6548625 (Soh Beng Choo) or fax no.: 03-6515078.

Background information:

The Securities Industry Development Centre (SIDC) is the education arm of the Securities Commission. It is responsible for facilitating education and research in the development of the capital market in Malaysia through training and dissemination of findings of non-proprietary research. It is also responsible for the development of the SC's resource centre which when fully established will be the premier capital market resource centre for the region.

The Securities Commission (SC), a statutory body reporting to the Minister of Finance, was established under the Securities Commission Act 1993. It is the sole regulatory agency for the regulation and development of capital markets. The SC has direct responsibility for supervising and monitoring the activities of market institutions, including the exchanges and clearing houses, and regulating all persons licensed under the Securities Industry Act 1983 and Futures Industry Act 1993.

More information about the SC is available on its homepage at www.sc.com.my