Malaysia will liberalise regulation around bond issuance early next year to boost retail participation in the bond and sukuk markets typically dominated by high-net worth individuals and institutional investors, the capital markets regulator said. The Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) said on Monday it would liberalise rules by the first quarter of 2018. "This involves reviewing the primary market issuance processes and disclosure requirements, as well as expanding the range of corporate bonds and sukuk offered to retail investors," SC Chairman Ranjit Ajit Singh said.
The regulator will also review the secondary market to enable retail access to existing bonds traded in the wholesale market. To spur interest and better understanding of the bond market, the regulator launched the Bond+Sukuk Information Exchange (BIX), a centralised information platform on Monday, which consolidates bond and sukuk prices and credit information. BIX Chairman Lee Kok Kwan said with the high savings rate in Malaysia, opening up the bond market to retail investors will help to better channel domestic savings into more productive sectors of the economy.