OVER the past month, it is heartening to see Singapore Exchange (SGX) slap, in a very public manner, Notices of Compliances on four listed companies - including Datapluse Technology, YuuZoo Corp and Noble Group - for breaches of its listing rules and demanding immediate redress.

A failure to comply is considered a breach of SGX's listing rules, which allows the regulator to take stronger action against delinquent firms. Actions can include levying fines by the Listing Disciplinary Committee and denying the offender access to the securities market, rather than just issuing public reprimands or delisting them.

Notices of Compliance were introduced in October 2015 as part of efforts to strengthen SGX's disciplinary and enforcement powers. Since then, six such notices have been issued, including the three mentioned.