The Securities and Futures Commission has approved amendments to the Stock Exchange of Hong Kongs Main Board Listing Rules requiring all listed companies to submit a soft copy of all announcements to The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (HKEx). The announcements will be published on HKEx's website.

This follows the favourable response to a market consultation last year on a proposal for all listed company announcements to be published on HKEx's website.

A spokesman for HKEx said listed companies would still be required to publish their announcements by paid announcements in traditional newspapers.

"After a trial period, the rules will be further amended to require listed companies to issue news releases, together with copies of the full text of their announcements, to all major news media. However, they will not be required to publish the announcements by paid advertisements.

"We expect this change to come into effect by the second quarter of next year, and we may consider arranging for newspapers to publish a list of announcements posted on our website.

"We are also developing an e-submission system for the delivery of listed company announcements through the Internet, rather than by delivery of a diskette, and expect to introduce this service in the third quarter of this year.

"We will, until further notice, continue to accept soft copies of ready-for-publication announcements on diskettes until 8.30am on the business day on which they are to be published in the newspapers," the spokesman said.