Capital market bill soon

Capital market bill soon

JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Finance Mar'ie Muhammad is scheduled
to submit a draft of the long-awaited law on capital markets to
the House of Representatives (DPR) next Wednesday.

The draft of the capital market law is one of two bills which
will be proposed by the minister next week. The other bill is on
customs and excise.

The draft of the capital market law, which will replace the
outdated Capital Market Law of 1952, is expected to provide a
stronger base to ensure fair trading in the country's growing
capital market.

Bacelius Ruru, the chairman of the Capital Market Supervisory
Agency (Bapepam), said recently that Bapepam is expected to be
endowed with greater judicial powers by the new law.

The draft of the capital market law will have 16 chapters and
123 articles.

The present law is not only too brief but also too weak to
cover the rapid developments in capital market activities, Ruru
said.

Another important aspect in the draft law is the inclusion of
a legal base for the introduction of a book-entry settlement
system, Ruru said.

Investors, under the book-entry trading system, or scripless
trading as it is more popularly called, would no longer need to
keep their share certificates as their stock holdings would
automatically be booked on their electronic stock accounts, Ruru
said. (hen)