The Singapore Exchange (SGX) has announced that it is changing its privy list requirements from 1 December 2015.
After a consultation, which incorporated the views of major bodies such as the Securities’ Investors Association Singapore and the Singapore Institute of Directors, SGX said all ‘material transactions’ would now be covered by the rule.
The exchange said it believed the privy list is important for conducting regulatory investigations in subject areas such as insider trading.
Despite this, it said that it had responded to concerns about privacy of personal data by allowing companies to decide what information to maintain as part of the privy list.
It said that companies remain obliged monitor trading of their shares when sensitive confidential discussions are ongoing, and to make the necessary disclosures as soon as possible where there is any suggestion of unusual trading.
Private notifications to SGX and the maintenance of a privy list were introduced in March 2014 to help the exchange’s surveillance of unusual trading in shares of companies involved in significant transactions.
The news comes as SGX reported a 6% year on year rise in securities trading in October, compared to the previous year with market turnover growing to S$23.1 billion.
The exchange also benefited from a rise in the turnover value of exchange-traded funds and 22 new bond listings, raising $13 billion in total.