Demutualization Bill in the process of being enacted into law by Parliament

    Sri Lanka’s Securities and Exchange Commission Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has identified the major legal changes and is in the process of fine tuning amendments to the SEC Act in order to keep up with the changes in capital markets and global best practices, a top SEC official says. “Demutualization of the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) has been in the air for a long time. I am indeed pleased to note that the Demutualization Bill is in the process of being finalized and is awaiting to be enacted into law by Parliament, hopefully in the not too distant future,” Thilak Karunaratna, Chairman SEC said at the inaugural meeting of the South Asian Investment Conference (SAIC) organised by the CSE in association with the South Asian Federation of Exchanges (SAFE) on Monday. The SEC has identified the importance of introducing a CCP (Central Counter Party) system to mitigate risk in the capital market, he said, adding that the SEC, Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) and CSE are jointly working towards making this a reality. “A consultancy firm specializing in capital market related assignments globally has been entrusted to do consultancy and provide management services for the project. I wish to reiterate the importance of formulating a joint regulatory mechanism while safeguarding the sovereignty of the respective nations and unique characteristics in each of our markets.” He added that joint initiatives should be taken to address overlapping concerns and interests. “This might be a tedious task as each of our markets are at different levels of development, yet not impossible.” (DE)