The process to find a new secretary-general of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is likely to begin soon after the regulator’s board decided on Thursday not to extend the term for current boss Ruenvadee Suwanmongkol.
According to sources with knowledge of the meeting, the board voted 6 to 4 not to renew the contract of Ms Ruenvadee, whose four-year term ends on April 30. As a result, the board resolved to open the recruitment process for her successor.
The resolution was not made public and none of the SEC executives confirmed the decision.
SEC secretaries-general are allowed to stay in office for two consecutive terms, or eight years in total.
There were two meetings of the SEC board to determine whether to renew Ms Ruenvadee’s tenure.
She holds an MBA degree from the University of California at Berkeley, and a Master of Laws from Harvard Law School in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Before taking the helm at the SEC, Ms Ruenvadee was the director-general of both the Legal Execution Department and the Probation Department at the Justice Ministry.
During her four years in office, she was credited with heading the SEC during a challenging time for the capital market regulator.
In addition to supervising securities firms and the capital market, Ms Ruenvadee played an active role in regulating digital asset operators through the Royal Decree on Digital Assets, which is a new and rapidly changing sector.
A source from the securities industry who requested anonymity said Ms Ruenvadee delivered an outstanding performance in enforcing strict digital asset laws because in 2022 cryptocurrency prices plunged and many platforms in the global market filed for bankruptcy.
In Thailand, many investors had losses from Zipmex Thailand, which faced scrutiny over the past six months after Babel Finance, a Hong Kong-based crypto lender, posted losses of roughly US$280 million worth of Bitcoin and other tokens through failed proprietary trading of customers’ assets.
Singapore’s Zipmex Asia Pte, a major shareholder of the Thai unit, hired Babel Finance to operate and manage the investments. The issue affected withdrawals from the Bangkok-based exchange’s ZipUp and ZipUp+ programmes, offered since October 2020, which allow customers to earn returns on their tokens.
The case of More Return Plc (MORE), which involves many influential people in the stock market, severely damaged the reputation of the SEC and the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET), said the source. The SEC joined with the SET and the Anti-Money Laundering Office to investigate shareholders of MORE for stock manipulation.
“The new secretary-general must be able to build public confidence and trust in the Thai capital market,” said the source.
