Fewer SGX queries are a step in the right direction

IN HIS commentary “Referee kayu? Like in football, focus in the market should be on the ‘play’, not the refereeing” (BT, Jan 27), Tan Boon Gin, CEO of Singapore Exchange Regulation (SGX RegCo), said that not only has the frontline market regulator fine-tuned its trading queries – which has helped reduce the number issued – it is also conducting a review of the entire trading query regime this year because of public feedback that trading and SGX intervention can have “a chilling effect’’ on the market.

This would surely be music to the ears of the many brokers who have long complained of over-regulation, which some claim to be one of the major factors behind the local market’s underperformance in recent years.

“Let animal spirits run unfettered.” Or: “Other markets don’t over-regulate. If we do, then people will simply take their business elsewhere.” These are some of the comments from observers clamouring for a loosening of the regulatory reins as a first step towards improving conditions in the Singapore market.