Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand to streamline cross-border prospectus review process

SINGAPORE, Malaysia and Thailand have agreed to develop a review framework for offering documents and pave the way for cross-border equity and stock offerings in South-east Asia.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), Singapore Exchange (SGX), Securities Commission Malaysia and Thailand's Securities and Exchange Commission signed a memorandum of understanding on Tuesday to establish a review framework for an Asean common prospectus. The framework is part of the Asean Capital Market Forum implementation plan endorsed by South-east Asian finance ministers and intended to facilitate cross-border offerings of equity and debt securities.

The proposed framework will streamline the review process for a multi-jursidictional offering that complies with Asean disclosure standards, requiring home and host authorities to complete their reviews simultaneously within three to four months of submission.

Implementation is targeted for the third quarter of 2015.

The three countries are the first signees of the agreement, with the expectation that other South-east Asian regulators will join when they are ready.

"The need for infrastructure investments in South-east Asia will multiply with the region's economic development," SGX chief executive Magnus Bocker said in a statement. "Today's agreement will pave the way for Asean companies to more efficiently raise funds for their investment and expansion, while investors will have easier access to more opportunities."

MAS assistant managing director Lee Boon Ngiap called the deal "another progressive step towards regional capital markets integration".