Malaysian regulator to ask publicly — traded firms for El Nino plans, eyes deeper Middle East ties

By Karin Strohecker, Elisa Martinuzzi and Anousha Sakoui LONDON, Sept 18 (Reuters) — Malaysia's Securities Commission plans to ask companies to disclose how they are preparing for El Nino amid concerns the country's businesses may be ill prepared for the fallout from the weather phenomenon, chairman Mohammad Faiz Azmi told Reuters. Forecasters warn of a possible super El Nino, which can bring prolonged heat and drought across Southeast Asia. Hotter, drier conditions can hit crop yields and strain water supplies, posing a particular risk to Malaysia's key palm oil industry. "We're going to send a letter to all the major companies just to ask them: So actually, what is your El Nino plan?" Mohammad Faiz told Reuters in an interview while on an investor roadshow in the UK. "And then we'll have a chat with them next year to see whether it worked or not." A number of market regulators around the world have been requiring company disclosures related to climate and weather impacts for some time now, but requests concerning specific events, even if such are made, typically are not made public. Mohammad Faiz said the initiative would test whether companies' climate-risk disclosures translate