Indonesia: Stock Market Regulators Step Up Measures Against Manipulation on October 26, Independent Members to Join Share Concentration Committee
Indonesia introduced further measures on October 26 to address stock market manipulation, including adding independent members to the committee that determines the list of stocks with highly concentrated shareholding. Previously, global index provider MSCI said earlier this month that, due to concerns about opaque trading practices, the Indonesian stock market could be downgraded to standalone market status, a more serious outcome than the possible downgrade to frontier market status it warned of in January. MSCI currently still classifies Indonesia as an emerging market. Jeffrey Hendrik, chief executive of the Indonesia Stock Exchange, said at a press conference that the exchange plans to expand the committee's membership to include independent figures such as Indonesian academics, as well as F. Chapman Taylor, who represents foreign investors; previously, all committee members were officials of the capital market regulator. Taylor was formerly a partner at investment firm Capital Group and currently serves as an adviser to Danantara, Indonesia's sovereign wealth fund. Hasan Fawzi, the capital market supervisor at the financial regulator, said exchanges are encouraged to strengthen their trading supervision mechanisms and methods, including the ability to identify abnormal trading patterns, detect coordinated trading behavior, and strengthen mechanisms for responding to such incidents. Last week, the Indonesia Stock Exchange said it would exclude stocks with highly concentrated shareholding from the main Jakarta index starting November 2; the current list includes 80 companies. MSCI's warning is related to the recent sharp volatility of the Indonesian stock market, and the regulators' stepped-up preventive measures this time aim to restore investor confidence in market transparency and fairness. For foreign investors, changes in the committee's composition and supervision methods are a focal point: if the addition of independent members can genuinely improve the credibility of the list-making process, Indonesia's chances of retaining its emerging market status will rise accordingly.
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 雅加达市景（资料图），取自 Wikimedia Commons。Photo: Jakarta cityscape (file photo), via Wikimedia Commons.
