On 10 January 2020, the decision by the Singapore Exchange (SGX) to abolish the existing quarterly reporting (QR) for the listed companies have been met with praise by the Association of Listed Companies (ALC), a non-profit association whose member companies mainly come from the firms listed on the Catalist board and Mainboard firms of SGX.
From 7 February onwards, the new reporting requirement mandating that companies meet a certain minimum market capitalisation is set to replace the current reporting requirement. Introduced in 2003, only listed companies with market capitalisation exceeding S$20 million had to do QR. This limit was later increased to S$75 as smaller companies experienced cost concerns. As a result, QR was required to be done by roughly 70 per cent of SGX-listed companies.
Within the new-risk framework to QR, a firm with regulatory and financial issues or poor audit reviews has to conduct QR. A list of approximately 100 companies that are not exempted from QR will also be released by SGX once the new regulation is in place. In addition to this, the company list will undergo quarterly review. With the new-risk framework in place, firm management can afford to focus more on longer-term strategies for sustainable growth.
The Executive Director and CEO of SLB Development Limited and President of ALC, Matthew Ong remarked that “We are appreciative of the changes made by SGX. The new risk-based approach not only save time and money for the companies, but also allow the management to adopt longer- term strategies to achieve sustainable growth. This is important in a rapid changing business environment. Constant communications with the regulators is one of the key directives for ALC and we are committed to act as a conduit for our members and the regulators. ALC will continue to progressively collaborate with SGX on further positive regulatory changes, together with its members’ feedback.” ALC hopes to continue to the bridge between SGX and its member companies in facilitating the adoption of new regulations.
ALC helps to engage with regulators and SGX on behalf of its listed member companies periodically. In addition to this, not only does ALC assist its listed companies materialize their potential but ALC also champion the interests of these companies. There are three types of membership offered by ALC. They are the Listed Member (For SGX Listed Companies), Associate Member (For companies that aspire to list on the SGX) and Honorary Member (For companies that can provide and create value for ALC).
