THE Malaysian Government has taken several initiatives to enhance the development of the capital market as an important source of fund mobilisation. One of them was the establishment of the Securities Commission of Malaysia (SCM) early last year to help with the orderly development and growth of the market. Last month, the SCM signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Securities and Futures Commission in Hong Kong, providing for co-operation between the two regulatory bodies. SFC chairman Robert Nottle said the memorandum would bolster investor protection and promote the integrity of the securities, futures and options markets by allowing the two exchanges to share information and help each other with investigations. ''The agreement recognises the increasingly close relationship between the financial markets in Hong Kong and Malaysia and the corresponding need to establish and foster co-operation between the authorities responsible for regulating the financial markets in both countries,'' he said. SCM chairman Dr Mohd Munir said the memorandum strengthened the excellent working relationship that already existed. Efforts have also been made by the Malaysian Government to further develop the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange into an international and more sophisticated bourse. The exchange expects a 34 per cent jump in market capitalisation in the next two years to M$700 billion (about HK$1.9 trillion). Last year, the exchange recorded an 842 per cent rise in capitalisation between January and October. Malaysia also plans to further develop its futures markets with the on-coming operations of the Kuala Lumpur Options and Financial Future Exchange and the Kuala Lumpur Futures Market.
