KUALA LUMPUR: The Securities Commission (SC) would be launching the second Capital Market Masterplan (CMM) sometime this year to suit the new economic realities of the country, its chairman Tan Sri Zarinah Anwar said.

“The market is dynamic, so this [CMM] will look towards the development of the markets in the next ten years, anticipating the changes,” she told reporters after the launch of the book Capital Market Laws of Malaysia on Friday, March 11.

She said the SC was currently working on the framework of the CMM that would incorporating new elements to fit a capital market that had evolved over the years.

“We’re now working on the [focus] of the master plan. We will be having consultations with industry participants and we will know the outcome once the consultations have ended,”  Zarinah added.

The first CMM was launched in February 2001, after the Asian Financial Crisis. It was intended to map the direction of the Malaysian capital market over a ten-year period to ensure the economy is well positioned to support economic growth in the rapidly globalising economic landscape.

On how she felt about foreign funds pouring into the country’s capital markets, Zarinah said that the SC constantly welcomes and encourages the inflow of foreign funds.

Capital Market Laws of Malaysia was written by Shanti Geoffrey, head of prosecution and civil enforcement at SC, and retails at RM180 each.

Shanti had been involved in policy formulation on various aspects of the securities industry throughout the course of her career.

Phillip Karuppiah, the managing director of the book’s publisher LexisNexis Malaysia, said the book would be useful to the people involved in capital raising exercises, as it sets out how the law regulates specific corporate transactions, including takeovers.