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Description
This practical workshop will provide you valuable insights on the impending amendments to the Companies Act, ACRA Act, and a new Corporate Services Provider Bill (“CSP Bill”) and its impact on corporate secretarial practitioners. The expert speakers will discuss the practical challenges faced by corporate secretarial practitioners in the rapidly changing regulatory landscape and how you can effectively address them.
Additionally, the ongoing practical challenges in managing the obligations under the Registered Filing Agent (“RFA”) Guidelines will be further discussed, with a focus on recent case studies and enforcement action that have been publicly published.
On 21 June 2022, ACRA and SGX announced that they have established a Sustainability Reporting Advisory Committee (“SRAC”) to advise on a sustainability reporting roadmap for Singapore-incorporated companies. The SRAC will provide input on the suitability of international sustainability reporting standards for implementation in Singapore. This will apply to companies beyond those listed on SGX-ST, including private companies. The speakers will present updates on the sustainability reporting frameworks in Singapore that covers both public-listed and private companies.
Programme Outline
Changes to Companies Act, ACRA Act and New CSP Bill
- Proposed enhancements to the Regulatory Regime
- New requirements for CSPs
Refresher on the ACRA Guidelines for Registered Filing Agents (RFA) – Common Practice Issues and Suggested Solutions
- Customer Due Diligence – Common Pitfalls
- Case Studies on recent enforcement by Regulators
Code of Corporate Governance – A Snapshot of the First year of Implementation since the 2018 Amendment
- Recap of the 2018 amendments
- Key developments in Board Composition and Diversity
- Recent disclosure examples
Sustainability Reporting ("SR")
- Introduction to applicable SR frameworks in Singapore
- Updates on new developments from SRAC
Q&A
What you will learn
- Gain an understanding of the impending amendments to the Companies Act, ACRA Act, and a new Corporate Services Provider Bill (“CSP Bill”)
- Learn and overcome the ongoing practical challenges in managing the obligations under the Registered Filing Agent (“RFA”) Guidelines
- Be updated on the sustainability reporting (SR) frameworks and implementation in Singapore
- Sharing of recent case studies on corporate secretarial issues faced by listed and private companies
Target Audience
- Company Secretaries
- Company Directors
- In-house Legal in listed and private corporations
- CSPs
Expert Speaker
Raymond Lam
Chief Operating Officer, Drew Network Asia
Director, Drew & Napier LLC
Raymond is a practising lawyer and he is currently the Chief Operating Officer of Drew Network Asia, a blue-chip regional network of premium legal firms including Drew & Napier in Singapore, Makarim & Taira S. from Indonesia, Shearn Delamore & Co. from Malaysia and Martinez Vergara Gonzalez & Serrano from Philippines. He is also the Head of Business Development at Drew & Napier and a director in its Corporate Restructuring & Workouts Practice Group. Raymond is a Notary Public, a Commissioner For Oaths and an Advocate & Solicitor in Singapore with Drew & Napier since 2002.
Between 2015 and 2021, Raymond was the CEO of Drewcorp Services and he successfully grew the firm to a team of 30 professionals offering a full range of corporate administration services. During his tenure, Raymond was appointed as the company secretary to a number of companies listed on the SGX and was regularly appointed as the independent scrutineer by a significant number of SGX Mainboard and Catalist companies for their general meetings.
Raymond is a Fellow of the Chartered Secretaries Institute of Singapore and is currently the Chairman of its Executive Committee.
Victor Lai
Principal Consultant, CitadelCorp
Victor has over 20 years of professional and management experience with a focus on Corporate Advisory in the capital markets sector, advising Boards and management on strategy, corporate governance and business development. His significant board advisory engagements include litigation support and board administration for the purpose of resolving shareholder disputes of SGX-listed issuers and large private companies.
Victor also serves as a “buy-side” management consultant for M&A transactions, with a focus on commercial and regulatory due diligence, arising from his experience in the Corporate Advisory sector.
Victor is the former Regional Managing Director of a regional corporate advisory firm, serving as the Practice Leader of its Share Registry and Corporate Secretarial professional practices in both Singapore and Hong Kong. His direct client engagements included being the named Company Secretary for numerous SGX-listed issuers, advising on Corporate Governance, Corporate Actions, and compliance with SGX Listing Rules as well as relevant statutory frameworks.
Victor has extensive experience in working with the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA) and the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), having served as the Country & Sector Representative for global regulatory reviews by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) relating to Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Financing-of-Terrorism (AML/CFT). He is also a Public Accountant registered with ACRA and served on a working group with MAS and IRAS that established the tax transparency treatment for REIT ETFs in Singapore.
He is also a committee member at Institute of Chartered Accountants Singapore (ISCA).