[PHNOM PENH POST]
THE Cambodia Securities Exchange could begin trading later this year
without the Kingdom having passed its long-awaited e-commerce law,
insiders said yesterday.
An e-commerce law is necessary to
protect investor data in the event of a system error or crash, among
other things, and therefore lends secur-ity to investors and firms
hoping to trade on the exchange.
“All the transactions are
processed electronically. If we don’t have an e-commerce law, how can we
operate the stock exchange?” Commerce Minister Cham Prasidh told a
meeting of the US-ASEAN Business Council in Phnom Penh last week.
“That’s why I want to have the law in place before real stock operat-ions begin.”
The CSX was launched officially in July, although stock trading wasn’t expected until the end of this year.
Three
state-owned companies – Telecom Cambodia, Phnom Penh Water Supply
Authority and the Sihanoukville Autonomous Port – plan to be its first
initial public offerings.
But whether the e-commerce law is in
place by then remains to be seen. Nguon Meng Tech, director- general of
the Cambodia Chamber of Commerce, said yesterday aims to enact the law
before the end of 2011 were remote.
“I don’t think the law will
be finalised by the end of this year because it is time-consuming,
technical and complicated. It’s not easy,” he said.
At the same
time, Tong Yang Securities (Cambodia) managing director Han Kyung Tae
disagreed, saying that work on the law was ongoing and he was confident
that the legislation would be introduced before year’s end.
Han,
whose firm will underwrite the IPOs for Telecom Cambodia and Phnom Penh
Water Supply Authority, stressed the importance of getting the law
online so that trading could begin.
“It is crucial for us to have
the relevant regulations in place, because electronic trading will
happen very soon,” he said yesterday.
Cham Prasidh called on the
US-ASEAN Business Council to provide the technical assistance necessary
to implement the law, which must be in compliance with World Trade
Organisation rules.
Although the law’s drafting pro-cess began in 2008, enacting the legislation has proved to require additional expertise.
Even so, one insider has said trading may not be contingent on the law being passed.
Securities
and Exchange Commission of Cambodia director-general Ming Bankosal said
yesterday that contracts could be drawn up between investors,
securities firms and stakeholders in order to avoid loss in the event of
a system crash.
“Even if our e-commerce law has not
materialised, we are going to set a clear mechanism to deal with
[problems with the electronic system],” Ming Bankosal said.
No comments:
Post a Comment