The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) intend to ban investment management companies from raising funds on the SET and Market for Alternative Investment (MAI) to close regulatory loopholes and enhance investor protection.
The SEC is conducting a public hearing to collect opinions on the new regulations. The hearing ends on Aug 18.
Under the new guidelines, any investment management company, except for financial institutions, will be prohibited from offering and listing shares on the SET and MAI.
According to the SEC, an investment company refers to any company that invests more than 40% of its assets in securities, derivatives, or digital assets without active management of such assets.
However, exceptions include investments aimed at managing liquidity in low-risk assets, investments in an associated company that is not an investment company, and investment in an affiliated company under the same holding company or partner companies that are networked for business operations, cooperation, and synergy, including companies under the same value chain.
Any listed companies on the SET or MAI with passive investment of more than 40% of total assets must disclose information regarding such investments in the notes to their financial statements.
The SET plans to stipulate additional measures to ensure listed companies comply with the new guidelines.
The SET expects to attach trading warning signs to firms that fall under the SEC's definition of an investment management company and set a time period for corrective action.
If the companies fail to act within the time period, they will lose their listed status and be delisted from secondary bourses.
After being delisted, a company will not be allowed to offer any type of security under the Securities and Exchange Act to investors or the general public unless granted a waiver from the SEC.
The SEC and SET have published hearing documents on their websites.
Interested persons can submit their opinions on the websites or via email -- chananisa@sec.or.th or wereya@set.or.th -- until Aug 18.
