Bangkok: The Securities and Exchange Commission of Thailand (SEC) is accelerating efforts to upgrade the Thai investment market, focusing on initiatives like the Thailand Investment Assessment System (TISA), reducing IPO review times, and combating investment fraud. The SEC aims to restructure the market, emphasizing flexibility and quality while promoting new economy businesses and piloting tokenized funds.
According to Thai News Agency, the SEC is collaborating with various stakeholders, including the Ministry of Finance and the Stock Exchange of Thailand, to enhance the capital market's resilience and address structural issues for long-term sustainability. The TISA project is a key initiative, creating a "savings infrastructure" for converting savings into long-term investments, aiming to diversify investments across asset classes and expand the investor base.
The SEC has also streamlined the IPO process by adopting a disclosure-based approach, reducing the review time to 60-100 days from the previous average of 147 days. This change is expected to attract promising businesses to the Thai capital market with appropriate supervision and investor protection.
In collaboration with the Stock Exchange of Thailand, the SEC is promoting the BOI to IPO project to attract New Economy businesses, revising listing criteria and eligibility requirements. The SEC is also encouraging product innovations and new fundraising forms, utilizing technology for capital market transactions to offer more options and convenience for investors.
Recent efforts by the SEC include promoting securities tokenization to enhance digital capital market transactions. These regulations, effective from April 2026, aim to ensure appropriate regulatory oversight in line with the upcoming Electronic Securities Act.
To tackle financial fraud and cybercrime, the SEC has issued regulations such as the Travel Rule, effective February 2027, and proposed regulations for stablecoin transactions. The SEC collaborates with agencies like the Anti-Money Laundering Office to prevent money laundering and cybercrime in digital asset markets.
Efforts to warn against investment scams have intensified, establishing cooperation with government and private sector agencies to block fraudulent schemes swiftly. Investor awareness has increased, with consultations regarding investment scams tripling in 2016 compared to the previous year.
Regarding law enforcement, the SEC has improved inspection and enforcement effectiveness, reducing the average case age from 2.3 years to 1.5 years. The SEC is also pushing for amendments to modernize laws, aligning them with international standards to support sustainable growth in the Thai capital market.
The SEC has revised regulations to enhance the supervision of listed companies and improve investor rights protection. This includes approving proposals from the Stock Exchange of Thailand to review trading regulation measures to reduce obstacles to investor trading and support liquidity while maintaining fairness in the market.