Singapore/Hong Kong, 15 December 2020 – SGX has won Exchange of the Year for the third year running in the 3rd Regulation Asia Awards for Excellence 2020 in an online ceremony on 15 December 2020.
Boon Gin Tan, CEO, SGX RegCo
SGX has throughout the year been engaging with listed companies, financial institutions and investors to boost awareness of ESG and sustainability issues, which was one of the key criteria in the category this year. For listed companies, the focus has been on improving the quality of sustainability disclosures, including through a review of published reports to identify areas for improvement, and the publication of a sustainability reporting guide.
SGX has also been carrying out discussions and focus groups with financial institutions to understand their needs regarding ESG and the barriers to sustainable investing and reporting. For investors, the focus has been on increasing awareness and helping them understand sustainability disclosures, including through events, webinars and online training courses.
Another key criterion this year was related to innovation, which SGX has demonstrated in its continued push to become a paperless exchange, and allowing submissions – including listing applications and offer documents – to be made online. SGX has also deployed innovative solutions to combat manipulation, including a surveillance dashboard for members to view information and statistics related to market misconduct, and investments in artificial intelligence to enhance detection of unusual activity and reduce false positives.
SGX also demonstrated a strong sensitivity to market needs, responding to the Covid-19 outbreak to ensure listed companies and other stakeholders had the flexibility they needed to maintain operations, including by granting extensions to carry out AGMs and announce financial results. SGX increased in the share issue mandate, allowing companies to raise capital more quickly. It also suspended its financial watch-list and scrapped the minimum trading price rule early in the year to allow issuers to focus on business recovery rather than revenue and market cap.
“Despite the disruptions throughout the year, SGX was able to remain competitive, and continue to develop its product offerings,” said a judge on the awards panel. “SGX demonstrated its resilience by establishing the FTSE Russell partnership, launching new derivatives products, and helping customers leverage opportunities as China’s markets continued to internationalise. SGX has had a good year.”
During the year, SGX also moved to semi-annual reporting for most issuers, enhanced its disclosure regime and listing due diligence standards, and published a regulatory guide on algorithmic trading, among other initiatives.
About the Regulation Asia Awards for Excellence 2020
The Regulation Asia Awards for Excellence recognises financial institutions, technology companies, legal and consulting firms, exchanges and other players that have helped meet the challenges of the ever-changing and increasingly complex regulatory landscape in Asia Pacific. Each year, submissions are diligently evaluated and award winners selected by a panel of industry experts serving as judges.
The full list of award winners is available here.
About Regulation Asia
Regulation Asia is the leading source for actionable regulatory intelligence for Asia Pacific markets. With over 8,500 subscribers, including regulatory bodies, exchanges, banks, asset managers and service providers, Regulation Asia plays a key role in shaping the regulatory agenda.
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