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The scheme reflects the desire of Asean securities regulators to facilitate fund raising activities within Asean and to enhance the visibility of Asean capital markets as an attractive investment

destination for global investors.

The scheme will facilitate multi-jurisdictional offerings of plain

equity and debt securities in Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand by

allowing the issuer to comply with one single set of common disclosure

standards, known as the "ASEAN Standards", together with limited

additional requirements prescribed by each jurisdiction, known as the

"Plus Standards".  The overall scheme is envisaged to bring greater

efficiency and cost-saving for issuers undertaking cross-border

offerings. 

The Asean Standards are based on the International Organisation of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) standards on cross-border offerings and fully adopts the IFRS  and the ISA.

 

The scheme forms one of the key capital market initiatives undertaken by

the Asean Capital Markets Forum (ACMF ). It is also part of the regional

capital market integration plan ("the Implementation Plan") endorsed by

the Asean Finance Ministers in April 2009 in Pattaya, Thailand.

Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand are the first three jurisdictions to

put the Scheme into effect. 

"The ACMF has shown strong commitment to enhance the attractiveness of

ASEAN as a combined capital market for fund-raising, as well as

underlines Asean securities as an attractive asset class by raising the

disclosure standards among Asean members to an international level.  I

am delighted that Thailand along with Malaysia and Singapore are able to

put this framework into practice," said Mr. Thirachai

Phuvanatnaranubala, Chairman of the ACMF and Secretary-General of the

Securities and Exchange Commission, Thailand. 

Tan Sri Zarinah Anwar, Chairman of the Securities Commission Malaysia

said "The implementation of the Scheme is an important step towards a

more efficient environment for access to capital across ASEAN.  By

allowing consistency of information in multi-jurisdictional offering

documents, the Scheme will aid investors in making informed decisions as

well as providing them with greater investments choices".

Mr. Shane Tregillis, Deputy Managing Director of the Monetary Authority

of Singapore said "The Scheme aims to harmonize prospectus disclosure

standards in ASEAN. Implementation of the Scheme is a step forward in

the effort to create a more integrated capital market in Asean in line

with the objectives of the Asean Economic Community Blueprint 2015. We

welcome the implementation of the Scheme and believe that it will usher

in more initiatives to integrate Asean capital markets."