SGX RegCo Finalizes Enhanced Disclosure Rules on Executive Pay, Dividends and Investor Relations
Singapore Exchange Regulation (SGX RegCo) finalized new listing rules on September 24 requiring issuers to disclose the key financial and non-financial performance indicators used to determine executive remuneration and explain how they align with long-term value creation. Companies must also maintain and describe a formal dividend policy — without being required to commit to a specific payout ratio — and adopt an investor-relations policy covering shareholder engagement activities, disclosed on a dedicated investor-relations section of a company website. The rules take effect for financial years beginning on or after January 1, 2027, with the first compliant annual reports expected in 2028.
SGX RegCo chief executive Tan Boon Gin said Singapore's equity market is "benefiting from a resurgence of investor interest, but this interest will not last if boards and management do not increase investor engagement," framing the rules as preserving flexibility for issuers while raising the disclosure floor. Current compliance data cited by SGX RegCo shows more than 90% of issuers already run investor-relations websites, but only 47% disclose the financial indicators behind executive pay — the gap the new rules target.
Anwar Warns 'Govern AI or It Will Govern Us' at Hangzhou Trade Expo
Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, addressing the opening of the 5th Global Digital Trade Expo in Hangzhou on September 24, said "either we govern artificial intelligence or artificial intelligence will govern us," calling for an ethics-based governance framework to keep AI development in the service of humanity. He said Malaysia's AI objectives are to raise productivity, help smaller businesses stay competitive, and move industries into higher-value work, while warning that rapid AI expansion without governance risks widening the gap between wealthy and developing economies.
Anwar framed the remarks around equitable access and technology transfer to the Global South, asking what purpose AI expansion serves "if such expansion only leads to widening the gap between wealthy and developing nations." The address came during a three-day working visit to Shanghai and Hangzhou distinct from Malaysia's separately announced investment pledges from the same trip, and was delivered at an event officiated by Chinese Premier Li Qiang.
Vietnam and Austria Open a Technical Dialogue on Crypto-Asset Supervision
Vietnam's Deputy Minister of Finance Nguyen Duc Chi met Mariana Kühnel, the newly appointed executive director of Austria's Financial Market Authority (FMA), in Vienna on September 15 to discuss financial-market supervision cooperation, with digital assets at the center of the conversation. Rather than a formal memorandum of understanding, the two sides agreed to regular expert dialogue through the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) and remote technical sessions comparing supervisory approaches.
State Securities Commission chairwoman Vu Thi Chan Phuong said Vietnam's supervisory approach draws on Financial Action Task Force recommendations, emphasizing risk management, client-asset protection and anti-money-laundering controls, and that Vietnam "hopes to draw on experience from the FMA and the EU's management agencies to perfect its legal framework." Austria's FMA already supervises crypto-asset service providers under the EU's Markets in Crypto-Assets framework, giving Vietnam a comparative model as it works toward issuing its first licensed crypto-asset service provider approvals under its pilot framework this year — five applicants have passed an initial assessment, with no final license issued as of late August.
Eyes on the Day Ahead
No regional regulatory deadline concludes within the next 24-48 hours, so the wider window is the one worth tracking: Thailand's SEC consultation on retail access to regulated overseas crypto derivatives closes September 30, and Singapore's MAS is still accepting feedback on its Payment Services Act amendments for the stablecoin regulatory framework through October 16 — both will show how final rules land after weeks of industry input.
Layer 7 Ventures is a research-driven firm focused on AI and cryptocurrency in Southeast Asia. Views expressed are those of the firm and do not constitute investment advice.
