Bursa Malaysia Securities Berhad (“Bursa Malaysia” or “the Exchange”) today announced enhancements to the sustainability reporting requirements in the MAIN Market and ACE Market Listing Requirements (collectively, “Listing Requirements”) to align with the National Sustainability Reporting Framework (“NSRF”).
The enhancements to the Listing Requirements seek to foster the use of the IFRS S1 General Requirements for Disclosure of Sustainability-related Financial Information and IFRS S2 Climate-related Disclosures (collectively, the “IFRS Sustainability Disclosure Standards”) as the baseline standards for sustainability reporting in Malaysia.
These enhancements are designed to improve the transparency and accountability of how listed issuers manage their sustainability-related risks and opportunities (“SROs”) using a globally recognised standard, ultimately strengthening business resilience and easing the reference and comparability by investors.
Under the enhanced requirements, a listed issuer must prepare its sustainability statement in the annual report (“Sustainability Statement”) in accordance with the IFRS Sustainability Disclosure Standards. Additionally, the listed issuer must continue to include the following information in its Sustainability Statement:
(a) metrics and targets that demonstrate the listed issuer’s performance and progress of its SROs for the last 3 financial years on a rolling basis, together with a summary of such data in a prescribed format; and
(b) a statement whether the listed issuer has subjected the Sustainability Statement to internal review by its internal auditor or independent assurance performed in accordance with recognised assurance standards.
The NSRF was launched on 24 September 2024 by the Advisory Committee of Sustainability Reporting (“ACSR”), an inter-agency committee which comprise representatives from Securities Commission Malaysia, Audit Oversight Board of the Securities Commission Malaysia, Bank Negara Malaysia, Companies Commission of Malaysia, Bursa Malaysia, and the Financial Reporting Foundation.
Recognising the varying levels of maturity and readiness among listed issuers, the enhanced requirements will be implemented in stages. Large MAIN Market listed issuers (i.e., those with a market capitalisation of RM2 billion and above) will commence using the IFRS Sustainability Disclosure Standards for annual reporting period on 1 January 2025 onwards, followed by the remaining MAIN Market listed issuers on 1 January 2026 and ACE Market listed corporations on 1 January 2027.
Pending full adoption, listed issuers may use the IFRS Sustainability Disclosure Standards with transition reliefs focusing on a climate-first approach for 2 full financial years for the MAIN Market listed issuers and 3 full financial years for the ACE Market listed corporations.
In line with Bursa Malaysia’s focus on customer-centricity, an explainer video will be made available by the end of 2024 on MyBURSA at https://my.bursamalaysia.com/learn/ bursa-sustain/explorer/sustainability-reporting-framework-resources.
In addition to these enhancements, the Exchange also introduced amendments that promote shareholder participation in general meetings of listed issuers by requiring in-person or hybrid meetings from 1 March 2025, and strengthen the accountability of listing advisers by requiring them to be named in public documents of listed issuers for a specified period from 2 January 2025.
For more information on the amended Listing Requirements, please refer to the following webpages:
- Amendments to the MAIN Market Listing Requirements: https://www.bursamalaysia.com/regulation/listing_requirements/main_market/amendments_to_listing_requirements
- Amendments to the ACE Market Listing Requirements:
https://www.bursamalaysia.com/regulation/listing_requirements/ace_market/amendments_to_listing_requirements