The Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) is expected to release comments on their proposed equity crowdfunding regulations sometime this week. The public release of feedback comes on the heels of the SC’s successful crowdfunding and angel investing conference held last week at the SC offices in Kuala Lumpur.
A consultation paper outlining proposed regulations for Southeast Asia’s 3rd largest economy were published this past summer. The deadline for comments was September 5th.
SC Chairman Datuk Ranjit Ajit Singh was quoted in The Malaysian Reserve stating;
“We think the opportunity for equity crowdfunding is very positive and our approach to allow crowdfunding as an alternative way to raise funds in Malaysia is part of our desire to create more inclusiveness in terms of participation in the capital market.
“Once we received the feedback from the public consultations, we will make some changes and will provide a public response by end of next week. Following that, we will look into an appropriate time for the framework to be put in place,” he told reporters on the sidelines of SC’s first crowdfunding forum in Kuala Lumpur last Friday.
The SC is clearly a proponent of the new approach to capital formation.
“Asia is in a strong position to benefit from this but more importantly, we are enabling alternative sources of financing.
“As a regulator and policymaker, our job is to ensure that we have an inclusive participation for players in the Malaysian market place, we democratise access to financing, and we ensure our young entrepreneurs and businesses have the ability to tap into the capital market as well and at the same time, for investors to participate in an informed and confident manner,” he said.
