KUALA LUMPUR: The Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) has positioned itself as an institution driven by millennial values, showcasing its commitment to environmental consciousness and sustainability agenda.
Perak ruler Sultan Nazrin Muizzuddin Shah said that the SC has been receptive to the significant and positive impact that digital solutions can have. They are thoughtful and measured in their approach to growth.
"Now mostly in their thirties, Millennials have been making their mark on the workplace and the world for many years. They are influential and impactful. Their ethics and outlook on everything from the environment to technology are increasingly prominent.
"Yet their biggest years, the years in which they will have the power to truly change the world, are still to come.
"I firmly believe the same is true of the SC.
"In setting out the achievements and challenges – the journey, if you will – of the first thirty years, this book also charts a course into the future.
"This is a future in which ethical, sustainable finance, and growth with responsibility, will be needed more than ever before.
"I, for one, am excited to see the SC lead the way in steering the world towards a brighter future," the sultan said in his royal address during the launch of the book Capital Market in Malaysia: Past, Present and Future.
The book, primarily written by Jennifer Jacobs, was launched to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the SC.
It not only reflects on the SC's journey but also serves as a testament to its significant role in regulating, strengthening, and fostering the growth of Malaysia's capital market.
Sultan Nazrin said the book successfully pays homage to the collaborative strength of the SC team, emphasising how these talents have coalesced over the decades to elevate the institution to international acclaim.
"This book really pays tribute to the power of the team – to the way in which individual minds, voices and talents have come together across the decades, to build the SC into an internationally celebrated regulatory body.
"On the book's very first page is a quote from Tun Dr Ismail Abdul Rahman, our country's first Ambassador to the United States as well as the United Nations, at the very dawn of our nation's independence in 1957, which proclaims that "our basic strength lies not in material things, but in the moral character and purposes of our people.
"Nearly 70 years later, what better legacy for this statement than the brilliant contributions captured in these pages?" he said.
The book doesn't merely focus on institutional achievements but also captures human moments, offering insights into lives affected by global events.
"How typical, for instance, that the Asian Financial Crisis should begin in earnest just as Tan Sri Ranjit Singh (another chairman of the SC) set off on his honeymoon. And how wonderfully down-to-earth that, in the midst of the Covid pandemic, chairman Datuk Syed Zaid Albar decided staff could swap suits for jeans and sneakers, to make everyone feel as comfortable as possible in an unprecedentedly stressful time.
"While these and other such anecdotes might be taken as somewhat frivolous details, there to add colour, I believe they are more than this.
"They are a reminder of the real lives, the real sacrifices, the real relationships and camaraderie upon which the SC has been built," the Sultan said, adding that he believed that strengthening institutions goes hand in hand with empowering their people.
The books also highlight SC's foresight, showing how SC staff successfully advised caution at the national and international level just before a crisis struck.
"Tan Sri Munir Majid saw the warning signs of the market 'super boom' ahead of the Asian Financial Crisis of 1997. The SC's own report on the causes and effects of this financial crisis called for regulation of international hedge funds around a decade before the Global Financial Crisis in 2007. Although the advice was not necessarily acted upon, it was justified."