The Chairman and members of the Securities and Exchange Commission of Sri Lanka (SEC) met representatives of the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce, law firms and stockbroker firms recently.
These interactions were held as part of a series of meetings that the SEC has commenced with various stakeholders since January. Chairman Viraj Dayaratne briefed the delegates on the reasons that prevented the stock market from being opened during the curfew. He said to ensure that there were no operational difficulties in similar situations in the future, he had appointed a joint committee comprising members of the SEC and Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) to digitise all core activities of the market and that the process was progressing smoothly and that they were hopeful that within three months it would be possible to have such a system in place.
The SEC recently approved the amendment of Rules to offer investors a fully digital onboarding experience. This transformation is expected to enable stockbrokers to strengthen service delivery, improve efficiency and have greater agility.
The delegation from the Chamber stressed the need to encourage more companies to list and to have in place an apex committee comprising capital market stakeholders including the SEC, CSE, Central Bank of Sri Lanka, Ministry of Finance and other key policy makers including industry bodies to decide on matters related to capital market policy.
The Chairman called upon the delegates to point out any particular Rules or Regulations which they consider to be too rigid so that they could be looked at by the SEC.