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On SEC directive :
CSE plans new licences to stock broking companies
Charumini de Silva
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Director General, Channa
de Silva told Daily News Business that on the directive of the SEC the
Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) will grant six new licences to stock
broking companies in the first quarter of next year.
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Tremendous
response for SEC road show in Singapore |
The
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Director General,
Channa de Silva told Daily News Business that there was a
tremendous response for the SEC road show which is scheduled to
be held on November 26 at Hotel Fullerton, Singapore.
“We have already got confirmations from over 100 fund managers,
which clearly demonstrates the increased investor confidence
with the dawn of peace. A Sri Lankan delegation of 40
individuals will be participating in the event including the
Deputy Finance Minister, Dr. Sarath Amunugama, Central Bank
Governor, Ajith Nivard Cabraal and all the leading stock broking
companies. One of the three best performing companies such as
the Commercial Bank, the NDB Bank and the John Keells Holdings
will also make separate presentations,” he said.
He said the Singapore road show is the first step and then the
SEC will focus on other potential countries such as Hong Kong,
Malaysia and the Middle East as they are the primary
destinations, which they have noticed and with the response they
will also explore the UK and the US markets.
“There is a requirement of increasing the number of market
players, especially bringing in more suppliers to the market is
essential.
We wish to expand the magnitude of the capital market by
increasing the number of suppliers.
With the excellent performance of the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE),
it has been able to attract more companies to the capital market
since the Price Earning (PE) ratio is as high as 14 percent, but
to create a centre of attention there should be a good response
from the industry too, de Silva said.
He said from January 01 to November 13 the CSE has achieved 98
percent of the All Share Price Index (ASPI), 108 percent of the
Milanka Price Index (MPI) and a market capital of Rs. 959
billion becoming the fifth best performing stock exchange in the
world, while Russia took the lead with 124 percent, Hungary 111
percent, Peru 108 percent, Argentina with 106 percent and 98
percent by Sri Lanka.
“At present the CSE is fully adjusted and we wish that with the
road show it will perform outstandingly.
“The economy is re-entering the high growth path with the
positive developments in the economy therefore, we need to
continue the growing impetus,” de Silva said. |
The Stock Brokers Association Chairman, Sriyan Gurusinghe said, “The
Sri Lankan market is still small and as a step forward we need to expand
the capacity of the market players. Therefore, to increase the market
activities we will need more stock broking companies in the near future.
With the market being liberalized we could see that the benefits are
being divided among all parties involved. Eventually the increase of the
stock market participation would enhance our market.”
He said with the outstanding performance of the CSE the stock broking
companies are enjoying bigger profits. The decision taken by the SEC of
conducting a road show in Singapore is timely, as many investors are
keen on investing in Sri Lanka. There are several opportunities in the
potential countries such as the Far East, Asia, Hong Kong, Malaysia and
Australia.
There are many Sri Lankan investors as well as foreign investors who
wish to invest in the country, who were reluctant to invest in the not
so distant past due to security reasons.
“With the dawn of peace Sri Lanka is now heading to a new era which
would help the country’s economy immensely. One stock broking company
recently set up office in Jaffna and we hope that other companies would
also follow in the near future to ascertain liabilities in those areas.
When the presence of the stock broking companies increase there will be
a need of a better system to monitor the market activities and currently
all have been proved up to the standard,” he said.
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