Bursa Malaysia announces another seven Covid-19 relief measures

KUALA LUMPUR, March 26 — Bursa Malaysia Bhd has announced a new set of seven relief measures targeted to a broader group of participants within the capital market.

These measures were designed to help lessen the financial burden and provide greater flexibility in navigating the challenging period posed by Covid-19, it said in a statement.

Among key measures include an automatic one-month extension to submit financial statements for the Main and ACE Markets and a rebate of 50 per cent of the annual listing fees for the year 2020 listed issuers.

Bursa Malaysia said it allows extension of time-frame for submission of the regularisation plan from the existing 12 months to 24 months from the date they were first announced.

The exchange will give more flexibility and discretion to brokers by removing the requirement to automatically liquidate their client’s margin account if the equity in the margin account falls below 130 per cent of the outstanding balance.

The exchange is also expanding the list of collaterals for purposes of margin financing, shortened counter service hours by market participants following the movement control order (MCO), and allows an extension of time for the submission of specified physical Central Depository System (CDS) transaction forms to Bursa Malaysia Depository Sdn Bhd.

Chief executive officer Datuk Muhamad Umar Swift said Covid-19 has quickly evolved from being a public health issue to being a source of serious economic challenge.

“We are making concerted efforts to ease the burden and help companies and market participants directly impacted by the crisis.

“We will continue to engage with capital market participants to ensure our endeavours are effective. We aim to aid market participants weather the sudden changes in their operating conditions or cash flows, while supporting the nation’s efforts to mitigate the economic and societal impact of the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Umar.

The measures announced today complement the broader relief effort under the Economic Stimulus Package 2020 (ESP 2020) announced by the government on February 27, 2020.

Under the ESP 2020, both the Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) and Bursa Malaysia have agreed to waive all listing-related fees for 12 months, to companies seeking a listing on the ACE and LEAP Markets, as well as for companies on the Main Market, with a market capitalisation of less than RM500 million.

More details of the relief measures can be referred at https://www.bursamalaysia.com. — Bernama