WB to assist amend SEC Act

Charumini de Silva

A World Bank team is currently in Sri Lanka to assist in the amendments to the Securities and Exchange Commission Act and will be here for the next six months. This was revealed at the opening of the Capital Market Development Workshop held during the weekend at Negombo.

Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)Director General Malik Cader said a team led by SEC Chairperson Indrani Sugathadasa along with legal officials of the SEC and Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) was expected to leave for India by end July to visit the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) and to observe how their Central Counter Party (CCP) is regulated.

Heraymila Securities Limited Director and CEO Ravi Abeysuriya said the key components to sustain and build capital markets weare issuers, intermediaries, investors, pro-growth policy reforms and robust regulation.

It is highly important to encourage wider institutional investor participation and trading of debt and equity. There is an essential need for significant enhancement in the SEC power especially in taking stern action against those who artificially manipulate the market prices to their personal advantage, he said.

“Building trust in the market is crucial and investors have to have trust and confidence in the market. Hence, disclosure and corporate governance should be maintained at its best by the companies. There should be prudential regulations, which safeguard small investors and fair play. Benchmarking with the other markets and against global trends is vital to be competitive,” Abeysuriya said.

Colombo Stock Brokers Association President Srian Gurusinghe said there was a need of investment advisors to improve the market as handling around 30 clients within a period of more than three hours is not an easy task.