Foreign firms might list shares on JSX
Foreign firms might list shares on JSX
JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia will probably allow foreign companies to list their shares on the Jakarta Stock Exchange (JSX) this year after the government approves a revised draft ruling on stock listing and trading, a JSX executive said.
"The listing of foreign companies' shares is included in our draft ruling, which is now under examination by the Capital Market Supervisory Board (Bapepam)," JSX president Hasan Zein Machmud said, Republika daily reported over the weekend.
He said he was optimistic that the planned access of foreign companies to the country's stock market will be able to attract much more investments and help JSX become one of the most competitive stock markets in Asia.
He said there are, so far, two foreign companies showing interest to list their common stocks on the JSX. He declined to identify the companies.
Hasan said the JSX has also received applications from an international financial institution and a fund manager to float their bonds on the JSX.
He expected that the planned ruling will also regulate the listing of bonds and commercial papers, including warrants.
Bapepam is now preparing a series of new laws on the stock market, which are expected to be delivered to the House of Representatives for deliberations this year.
Bapepam's chairman, Bacelius Ruru, refused to give comments on the possibility of the listing of foreign companies in the country, saying that the draft ruling has not been finalized.
"We are now collecting input from parties involved in stock market activities to complete the draft," he said.
"Anyway, I have no idea on the planned access of foreign companies to the country's market. I am not able to comment on what I have not read," he said.
Consolidation
Discussing Indonesia's new current ruling on the stock market, the chairman of the Jakarta-based Center for Legal Studies, Marzuki Uzman, said that Indonesia should be flexible in its ruling on the stock market on the grounds that Indonesia is becoming more important in the region.
Speaking in a ceremony Friday evening to launch a book on the collection of stock market rulings, Marzuki cautioned that there is now a tendency of stock market consolidation in the world.
"Some experts have informed us that markets in Europe, for example, will likely consolidate themselves into one or two central stock markets," he said, predicting that the London Stock Exchange will probably become the central market in Europe.
Like Europe, the United States will also consolidate its stock markets to bring only one flag of Wall Street's New York Stock Exchange, which will accommodate markets in Mexico, Canada and Latin America, he said.
In Asia, he said, Japan may become the central market, covering markets in South Korea, China, Taiwan and Hong Kong.
"In countries from the Association of South East Asian Nations, I am optimistic that Indonesia can be a central market, as long as Indonesia is able to anticipate the consolidation move through the introduction of new regulations," Marzuki said.
Jeremy Wiesen, a visiting accounting professor from New York University, said in his keynote speech at the book launching ceremony, that Indonesia has an enormous potency to become a major stock market in Asia because Indonesia has a lot of human resources.
Other indications of the good prospect of the Indonesian market include the strong growth in the number of listed companies and the improvement of rulings, he said. (fhp)