The British government and Thailand's Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to establish a financial services partnership.
The collaboration aims to support sustainable, inclusive, low-carbon economic growth and recovery in Thailand through the financial services sector.
The MoU strengthens the existing relationship between Britain and the Thai SEC, formalising collaboration in areas including accounting standards; the development of fintech to facilitate greater access to finance and business opportunity for Thailand's fintech industry; and sustainable finance such as promoting green bonds and climate risk disclosure for listed companies.
Initially, specific areas of focus will include green bonds, the fintech ecosystem, e-Know Your Customer and cybersecurity.
"This MoU reiterates the SEC's dedication and extensive efforts with respect to the strategic plan on digital technology and sustainable capital market," said SEC secretary-general Ruenvadee Suwanmongkol.
"It comes at a crucial time as the Covid-19 pandemic has not only been an accelerating factor for innovation and digitalisation of market participants to cope with its impact, but has also emphasised the importance of being adaptive and flexible to new opportunities arising from changes in the behaviour of capital market players.
Brian Davidson, the British ambassador to Thailand, said: "Financial services and fintech have played a critical role in supporting businesses and individuals through the pandemic. Now financial services have an equally important role to play as we recover -- fostering a new, better, greener, more inclusive economy."
The Asean Low Carbon Energy Programme and Asean Economic Reform Programme are both funded by the Overseas Development Assistance budget under the UK government's Prosperity Fund. The former seeks to support Asean countries to transition to low-carbon societies and realise economic and wider benefits as a result, running from 2019 to 2022.
The latter aims to support sustainable, inclusive economic development in Asean countries. The programme focuses on strengthening the business environment through intellectual property enforcement, regulatory reform and improved competition policy; improving transparency; and strengthening the financial sector through capital market development, fintech capacity and accounting standards. The programme runs from 2019 to 2022.