KUALA LUMPUR (April 22): Malaysia’s capital market regulator Securities Commission (SC) said it may make compliance with the guidelines under its newly launched “My Value Up” programme mandatory by 2028 or 2029, if listed companies fail to show any improvements in performance and governance.
While the initiative is currently voluntary, a compulsory approach remains an option should the 88 participating companies fail to comply with guidelines that will be issued later, according to SC chairman Datuk Mohammad Faiz Azmi.
“I’m not committing to make that true. Why? Because the impact we want will be lost — you make it forced and people won’t do it properly,” he said at a press conference after the release of the SC’s 2025 annual report.
The “My Value Up” initiative, introduced under the Capital Market Masterplan 2026–2030, is aimed at improving value creation, strengthening financial performance and raising the visibility of Malaysian public listed companies (PLCs), particularly among global investors.
The programme currently targets 88 companies on Bursa Malaysia, which collectively account for about 80% of the market capitalisation.
The initiative comes as Malaysia seeks to strengthen its position in attracting international capital, amid increasing competition from regional financial centres. However, things like weak returns and declining dividends among some large-cap companies have made it harder to promote Malaysia to global investors, according to Mohammad Faiz.
“We think it takes about six analysts to cover you to get good tracking. But among the top companies, some don’t even have any analyst coverage — it’s quite bizarre,” he added.
The selection of the 88 companies were selected based on the top companies by market capitalisation with an arbitrary threshold of RM4 billion market cap, according to SC executive director Azalina Adham.
“[This comes as when] international investors look at the size of the company [for investment considerations], if it’s too small, no matter how good it is, they consider it not investable,” she said at the same press conference.
These companies are important because they make up 80% of the market’s value and are large enough to attract foreign investors.
The SC will require companies to submit reports on how they plan to improve performance and market position. By 2027, the programme will expand on a voluntary basis before any decision on making it mandatory.
“I’m not telling them how to run their business. I’m just trying to tell them how to make themselves better,” Mohammad Faiz said.