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WEDNESDAY, MAY 7, 1936
PROTECTION PROVIDED FOR INTERESTS OF INVESTORS
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MEASURES TO SAFEGUARD INVESTORS' INTERESTS AND TO MINIMISE CHANCES FOR MALPRACTICE ARE ALREADY ENSHRINED IN COMPANIES AND SECURITIES LEGISLATION AND THE RULES OF THE UNIFIED EXCHANGE, THE FINANCIAL SECRETARY, THE HON SIR JOHN BREMRIDGE, SAID IN THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL TODAY (WEDNESDAY).
REPLYING TO QUESTIONS BY THE HON LEE YU-TAI, SIR JOHN SAID THAT THE PRIME CONCERN OF THE GOVERNMENT AND OF THE SECURITIES COMMISSION HAD ALWAYS BEEN TO PROTECT THE REASONABLE INTERESTS OF THE INVESTING PUBLIC.
SIR JOHN SAID DURING THE LAST FIVE YEARS, 20 LISTED COMPANIES HAD BEEN SUSPENDED AND REMAINED SUSPENDED, WHILE 26 COMPANIES' LISTINGS HAD BEEN CANCELLED.
OF THE 26 COMPANIES SUSPENDED, HE ADDED, FIVE WERE REQUIRED TO PROVIDE FURTHER INFORMATION SIX WERE INVOLVED IN RECONSTRUCTION OR REORGANISATION, AND NINE HAD BEEN PUT IN LIQUIDATION OR HAD BECOME INSOLVENT. THESE FIGURES DID NOT INCLUDE THE NUMEROUS TEMPORARY SUSPENSIONS WHICH RESULTED FROM PENDING ANNOUNCEMENTS, TAKEOVER SITUATIONS ETC.
+OF THE 26 LISTED COMPANIES WHOSE LISTINGS HAVE BEEN CANCELLED, SIX HAVE BEEN REACTIVATED THROUGH THE LISTING OF ANOTHER COMPANY, 15 HAVE BEEN ACQUIRED BY ANOTHER COMPANY THROUGH TAKEOVERS AND MERGERS AND FIVE HAVE BEEN WOUND UP, SIR JOHN SAID.
ON THE NUMBER OF SUSPENSIONS AND CANCELLATIONS THAT HAD ARISEN FROM POSSIBLE MALPRACTICES OF LISTED COMPANIES, SIR JOHN SAID THAT THESE SUSPENSIONS AND CANCELLATIONS HAD BEEN MÅDE AT THE REQUEST OF THE COMPANIES CONCERNED.
+IT IS DIFFICULT, IF NOT IMPOSSIBLE, TO SAY HOW MANY OF THESE SUSPENSIONS AND CANCELLED LISTINGS MIGHT HAVE BEEN ATTRIBUTED TO MALPRACTICES SINCE IT IS NOT EASY TO DEFINE MALPRACTICE AND THERE ARE DIFFERENT DEGREES OF MALPRACTICE.+
BESIDES THE PROTECTION PROVIDED BY LEGISLATION, SIR JOHN SAID, INVESTORS MUST ALSO EXERCISE COMMONSENSE AND GOOD JUDGEMENT. THOSE WHO INVEST MUST ACCEPT THE DISCIPLINE OF THE MARKET PLACE.
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