Cross border public offering of securities in fostering an integrated ASEAN securities market: The experiences of Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand

Open Access

Abstract

In 2015, the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) Economic Community was formally established and its aim was to achieve, among other things, an integrated securities market within ASEAN. Before the formal establishment of the ASEAN Economic Community, in 2009, with a view towards achieving the objective of securities integration, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand adopted the ASEAN Disclosure Standards, a set of harmonized disclosure standards for issuers making cross-border initial public offerings (IPOs). These participating Member States also entered into a framework for the expedited review for cross-listings. However, more than 5 years later, there is no documented use of the ASEAN Disclosure Standards; cross-border IPOs and cross-listings remain rare. This article is a study of cross-border IPOs of issuers in, and cross-listings within, the participating Member States during the 2010–2014 period, with a view to obtaining insights on how issuers access capital markets. These insights are relevant to the broader questions about the long-term viability of ASEAN's regulatory policies of promoting integration through harmonization of minimum standards along with limited mutual recognition. This article compares the ASEAN approach with the EU Prospectus Directive and the Trans-Tasman Mutual Offering Framework. This article argues that to move to a truly pan-ASEAN equity offering, there needs to be, at a minimum, a greater supervisory and enforcement convergence.