Regulation To Extend Directors' Trading Blackout
Between 11 January 2008 and 7 April 2008, HKEx launched a consultation paper proposing changes to the Listing Rules "to address 18 substantive policy issues pertaining to corporate governance and initial listing criteria". On 28 November 2008, new rules were announced which included, inter alia, limitation of directors' trading in their companies' shares between the end of each semester until after publication of its results. The Listing Rule amendments were due to become effective on 1 January 2009. The previous blackout period is within one month of publication, and was considered by HKEx to "fail to ensure that insiders do not abuse the market while in possession of unpublished price-sensitive information".
In mid-December, legislators representing the functional constituencies, led by Abraham Razack, Chim Pui Chung and David Li, demanded that regulators postponed the execution of a prolonged blackout proposal. Razack said HKEx did not consult widely enough and the process was a "black- box operation" that did not reflect industry opinion; David Webb said that the campaign was due to some well-connected tycoons and company directors' rearguard action to derail the rule change. On 30 December 2008, the Listing Committee said it would not withdraw the new rule because it would "have a long-term benefit on the market. However it postponed the rules' introduction by three months."
Read more about this topic: Hong Kong Exchanges And Clearing
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