The new chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has vowed to speed up its investigation process to minimise potential damage caused by allegations of fraud at listed companies, in a bid to restore public confidence.
Permanent secretary for the Digital Economy and Society (DES) Ministry Wisit Wisitsora-at, who was named chairman of the SEC on July 2, said that one of the two priorities for his first six months in office was to reduce the regulator's investigation process to only "a few months", as opposed to years in previous cases.
By joining hands with the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET), this is "an urgent issue the SEC must act on quickly" in order to restore the confidence of Thai investors, he said.
As the regulator oversees the Thai capital market, the current process of identifying offences takes a long time, during which the cases affect the market widely, Mr Wisit noted.
"After talking to the SEC team, we need to empower the SET more to deal with serious matters from the beginning. Having clear investigative guidelines for each case would help the authorities process their tasks quickly," he said, adding that the matter would be put to the SEC board next week.
"From now on, the SEC does not have to wait for the SET to send the information about the fraud cases but should jointly investigate them from the beginning with the SET so that an in-depth investigation can be completed more quickly. When you see a problem early and take action quickly, the damage is reduced," he said.
According to Mr Wisit, the regulator has categorised cases into high-, medium- and low-impact ones. High-impact cases, in particular, must be dealt with quickly under the SEC's authority while collaborating closely with law-enforcement agencies such as the Department of Special Investigation, attorneys, and the Central Investigation Bureau police.
"We must ensure that investors have integrity in investing in the Thai capital market and take profits and losses according to market mechanisms," Mr Wisit noted.
"If the stock market has sustainable growth, the Thai economy will also grow well. Therefore, it is important that the capital market is strong."
Another priority is developing new funding alternatives for investors, especially digital assets or digital bonds based on blockchain technology. Nonetheless, clear regulations have to be prepared to reduce fraud.
"The crypto market is growing well and can grow further. For example, digital tokens that allow funds to be raised in the form of investment tokens can raise more funds than we saw in the past. In the future, there will be more funds raised as more licences are granted," Mr Wisit said.
Carbon credit is another tool the SEC has been looking at.
"At the DES, we see a trend of carbon credit being transformed into digital credit-like bonds. Therefore, we have to make the mechanism ready for such a development," he added.
In a related development, the SEC is opening a public hearing on drafted ministerial regulations and announcements regarding the licensing of the securities and derivatives business to increase flexibility in providing licences to business operators.
Under the new structure, licences would be classified by types of business instead of product types to place businesses with similar risks in the same group. And in order to give business operators flexibility in requesting permission, there will be no need to apply for a new licence when seeking to expand their business.
The regulator also plans to extend the period required for establishing a business to 270 days from the date of receiving a licence, from 180 days, to give business operators practical timelines for operating a digital asset business.
