SGX RegCo operates in a much more complex environment than the home of the three bears. Consequently, it has to act carefully and only after sufficient engagement with the market participants. While regulators may have the best intentions, they are usually working with imperfect information in an evolving situation. “We should be mindful of imposing regulations in haste only to regret at leisure,” Tan says.
SINGAPORE (June 10): Tan Cheng Han, chairman of Singapore Exchange Regulation (SGX RegCo), kicked off the SGX Regulatory Symposium 2019 on May 31 with a retelling of the fairy tale of Goldilocks, the little girl who enters the forest home of a family of bears and sits on their chairs, eats their porridge and finally sleeps in their beds. “Goldilocks had three choices, and on each occasion she only came to what was right for her on the third attempt. It underscores how the right choice is never obvious and requires experimentation, the willingness to try again and the ultimate search for the right balance,” Tan says.
Indeed, Goldilocks had it much easier than market regulators such as SGX RegCo, Tan continues. “She only had three possibilities to consider, and one of them was, as the story goes, exactly the right one for her. Whichever choice she made also did not have any consequences for others, and only affected her for the brief moment it took her to know that it was not the right one for her.”
