New SEC Act to be tabled in Parliament

The new Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Act will be gazetted and presented to Parliament for approval shortly.

A proposal in this regard by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, as the National Policies and Economic Affairs Minister, has been approved by the Cabinet of Ministers. 

The new act will replace the Securities and Exchange Commission Act No. 36 of 1987.

The new act is expected to address the gaps in the regulatory system, which were outlined by a recent International Organisation of Securities Commissions’ (IOSCO) Country Review on 
Sri Lanka. 

However, the main feature of the new SEC Act would be the vesting of powers on the state to initiate civil action against the alleged capital market offenders, thereby giving more teeth to the SEC, which currently has limited scope in penalizing wrongdoers, since criminal action requires proving an infraction beyond reasonable doubt.