Listed firms now have 24 hours to disclose unusual information

The Ministry of Finance has issued a new circular on information disclosure on the stock market with amendments which aim to enhance transparency and meet the growing market demand.

The Circular 155/2015/TT-BTC, which was issued on October 6, 2015, and takes effect on January 1 next year, will replace the old one dated April 2012.

Companies must disclose unusual information within 24 hours of receiving requests from the State Securities Commission (SSC) and the stock exchange where they are listing shares up on the occurrence that will likely affect legitimate interests of investors.

Unusual information include changes in operations of the company such as expansion or reduction in businesses, corporate restructuring and personnel, treasury and dividend policies, accounting regime, and prosecution and detention of corporate insiders such as directors, and senior officers, apart from issuance of convertible bonds, and changes in the number of voting shares.

The new circular gets rid of the regulation that forces companies to reveal their capital contribution or divestment from subsidiary and affiliate companies within 72 hours to ensure the information aptness.

In addition, public companies must notify investors of changes in foreign ownership in their companies to conform to Decree No 60/2015/ND-CP issued in June 2015, which allows higher foreign holdings in public companies.

Circular 155 also requires firms to disclose information related to their sustainable development policies in line with international practices which aim to strengthen corporate responsibility for environment and society.

With regard to financial reports, companies must still publish their audited annual financial statements within 10 days after the endorsement of the auditor but not exceed 90 days from the end of the fiscal year.

In case a company fails to submit the financial reports on the due date because of the lengthy and complex report of consolidated financial statements or delays caused by their subsidiaries and affiliates, the SSC will consider a time extension, but it shall not exceed 100 days from the end of the fiscal year.

The regulation also specifies the time for big public companies with the equity capital of over 120 billion VND (5.4 million USD) to send their quarterly and semi-annual financial statements, in which quarterly reports will be submitted within 20 days, since the end of the quarter and semi-annual reports must be sent within 5 days after the review of the auditor, but not exceeding 45 days from the end of the first half of the year.

The new circular also puts in more regulations about disclosure responsibility of internal shareholders, securities companies, fund management companies, and the stock exchanges, apart from the Vietnam Securities Depository Centre (VSDC).

VSDC and stock exchanges are required to deliver information in both Vietnamese and English while other institutions are only encouraged to disclose it in English.-VNA