KUALA LUMPUR: The Securities Commission Malaysia’s (SC) excellent crowdfunding framework, which enables Malaysia to raise more alternative capital in the market, was highly regarded at the Global Symposium on Innovative Financial Inclusion yesterday.
Policy programme manager at the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance (CCAF) of the University of Cambridge, Kieran Garvey, said the SC’s proactive move in sending the right signal to investors interested in alternative finance platforms should be emulated by other regulators especially in the Asean region.
“Since 2014, the SC has been putting on events, using opportunities to engage with industry players, experts, and different policy makers and bringing them together to understand what is happening in the industry, how it’s developing and then to help inform their approach.
“I think the SC has been really proactive. It is an example of the kind of leader of the regulatory and policy approach for equity crowdfunding in the region and globally.
“I don’t think we have seen that with other regulators,” he told Bernama on the sidelines of the symposium.
Garvey was one of the panellists at a break-out session titled Crowdfunding as an Innovative Platform, held at Sasana Kijang.
Malaysia is the first country in ASEAN to introduce a regulatory framework to facilitate equity crowdfunding in 2015, with six registered equity crowdfunding (ECF) platform operators to fully operationalise by 2016.
The ECF platforms provide an alternative venue for capital-raising to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and innovative new businesses.
Garvey said a survey called CCAF Alternative Finance Benchmarking Reports 2013-2016 found Malaysia had the highest total market volume in 2015 among middle-income countries in the Southeast Asia Pacific.
He said Malaysia generated US$3.36 million in alternative finance during the year, mostly derived from donations and rewards-type alternative finance models.
This was followed by Indonesia with US$2.26 million in alternative finance, Thailand (US$1.04 million), Mongolia (US$04 million), the Philippines (US$0.19 million) and Vietnam (US$0.03 million).
For 2016, he expected the figure to continue upward not only due to the proactive SC but also supported by the country’s high penetration rates for smartphones, internet, online banking and e-commerce.
“Based on the introduction of the regulation for equity crowdfunding and the rise of new platforms to fund new businesses, we expect the number to be able to grow substantially,” he added.
The two-day symposium beginning yesterday is jointly organised by the central bank and the World Bank Group.
The event is the inaugural gathering of public sector regulators, private sector innovators and funders that is specifically focused on how financial innovations can support financial inclusion. — Bernama