Public-listed companies will be required to provide an e-dividend payment system to shareholders by the third quarter of next year.
Investors will be given a one-year grace period to provide their bank account number to Bursa Malaysia Depository to enable the dividend payments to be credited directly into their bank account.
Stockbroking companies, meanwhile, will by mid-2010 be required to provide e-share payment options for clients to receive and make payments on their share transactions.