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NZX has made amendments to the NZX Listing Rules (Rules), Corporate Governance Code (Code) and Governance Guidance Note as a result of the two-stage review into its director independence settings and made minor conformance changes to Appendix 4 of the Rules relating to Mining Issuer Disclosure. Mark-ups of the relevant documents are available below:
These amendments will become effective on Friday 31 January 2025.
Further Code amendment effective 1 April 2025
An amendment arising from the director independence review included the insertion of a new Rule 3.8.1(f).
Rule 3.8.1(f) requires that where one of the factors in table 2.4 of the Code applied to a Director determined to be an Independent Director during a financial year with a balance date on or after 31 March 2026, that an Issuer of Quoted Equity Securities must include in its annual report a description of:
This new annual report disclosure requirement is currently framed as a recommendation in the Code under recommendation 2.4(c), which issuers are required to report against on a comply or explain basis. The rule amendment will require issuers to provide the disclosure in annual reports relating to a financial year with a balance date on or after 31 March 2026.
On 1 April 2025, NZX will remove the part of the existing recommendation 2.4(c) that replicates the requirements of Rule 3.8.1(f), to ensure that there is clarity that the disclosure requirement is mandatory and no longer operates on a comply or explain basis.
A mark-up of the Code which will become effective on 1 April 2025 is available below:
A timeline for this change is set out below:
NZX and NZX Clearing have made amendments to the below Rules, Procedures and Guidance to facilitate the relaunch of the S&P/NZX 20 Index Futures Contract (NZX 20 Futures). Mark-ups of the relevant documents are available below:
These amendments will become effective on Friday 17 January 2025.
NZX has made amendments to the Self-Match Prevention (SMP) Practice Note to facilitate the enhancement of the self-match prevention (SMP) tool through the introduction of booking purposes only transaction (BPOT) functionality.
A mark-up of the amendments to the practice note is available below:
NZX Dark is available now for market participants and NZX currently expects the SMP enhancements will be available in Q1 2025. Please note that the above amendments to the SMP Practice Note will come into effect in Q1 2025 (revised).