Amendments to Malaysia Capital Markets and Services Act 2007 in effect 1 July 2021

29 July 2021

The Capital Markets and Services (Amendment of Schedules 5, 6 and 7) Order 2021 (“Order”) came into operation on 1 July 2021, with the exception of paragraph 3 in relation to Part III of Schedule 6 and paragraph 4 in relation to Part III of Schedule 7 which come into operation on 1 January 2022. The Order amends Malaysia’s Capital Markets and Services Act 2007 (“CMSA”).

The Capital Markets and Services (Amendment) Regulations 2021, which amend the fees set out in the Capital Markets and Services Regulations 2012, also came into effect on 1 July 2021.

This article sets out the amendments to the CMSA made by the Order.

Amendments to CMSA

The Order makes amendments to the CMSA in Schedule 5 relating to proposals that do not require approval, authorisation or recognition by the Securities Commission Malaysia, Schedule 6 relating to excluded offers and invitations and Schedule 7 relating to excluded issues of securities.

Salient provisions of the Order are as follows:

• Schedule 5 of the CMSA now includes as an exemption, the initial exchange offering of digital assets through a recognised market operator.
• Schedule 5 of the CMSA is also amended to include the initial public offering or cross-listing of the shares of a public company or a listed corporation on a stock exchange outside Malaysia.
• Schedules 6 and 7 of the CMSA now provide for a wider definition of “sophisticated investors” to include, among others:
  
  • individuals with investments exceeding RM1 million in capital market products, either on their own or through joint accounts with their spouse; 
  • CEOs and directors of licensed or registered persons under the CMSA; and 
  • corporations that manage funds of their related companies with assets of more than RM10 million.