Bangkok, 10 January 2017 ? The SEC has announced the three-year strategic plan (2017-2019), which focuses on driving the Thai capital market competitiveness with financial technology. The plan aims to promote stakeholder inclusiveness, sustainability, good governance as well as fair and effective law enforcement. Additionally, increasing the Thai capital market's role in serving regional needs is the SEC's key focus laid out in the plan.
SEC Secretary-General Rapee Sucharitakul said: ?Our blueprint for the next three years aims to solve fundamental issues and build intermediaries? competitive edge in the global financial market. On the business side, we are increasing collaboration and facilitation for new entries and offering new business models in line with the growing technology-driven landscape and changing consumers? behaviors. Locally, a major driving force that is the aging society is having a stronger influence on the adjustment of products and services to generate sufficient yields for the elderly investors. It is part of our job to build consumers? awareness of the importance of long-term savings and smart investment to serve their own individual needs.?
The four strategic themes 2017-2019 are: (1) driving competitiveness and inclusiveness for stakeholders from all sectors using technologies, (2) positioning the Thai capital market as a regionally preferred venue to raise funds, (3) promoting governance and good standards of financial institutions and corporate whereby investors? best interest is considered paramount, and (4) developing tools to empower investors. The plan can be summarized as follows:
Strategy One: To embrace financial technology (FinTech) as a tool for adding value and creating more efficient market and accessibility for all stakeholders. This priority aims to support the Thai capital market's moving towards the new age of financial landscape by promoting expansive information access, new services by newcomers, cost-effective market infrastructure leading to lower operating costs. Additionally, the SEC will use RegTech for a better regulatory supervision and place high importance on cyber resilience.
Strategy Two: To promote the Thai capital market as an attractive venue for local and regional fund mobilization by streamlining the securities offering and ongoing process which includes pre-fundraising screening, effective trading monitoring system, and legal enforcement function. In addition, more efforts will be made to ensure that the Thai capital market standards are at international level, enhance product attractiveness, and eliminate regulatory barriers to contribute to neighboring countries? economies and capital markets development.
Strategy Three: To build a market ecosystem that supports good governance of financial institutions and businesses in their product and service offering for investors? best interest, and improves professional conduct to ensure that investors will have reliable information and efficient protection. The SEC also promotes self-awareness of all sectors regarding the benefits of good corporate governance and thus voluntary compliance with CG principles as opposed to merely abiding by the rules. This includes improving their product offering approaches to prevent conflicts of interest with parent companies.
Strategy Four: To develop tools for empowering investors in their investment decision making, preventing frauds, and promoting exercise of investors? rights. The SEC also aims to promote independent investment advisory business and develop a more efficient mechanism for dispute resolution and effective enforcement.
?To achieve these strategic goals, the SEC is striving towards becoming a smarter regulator by empowering staff competency in line with the fast changing market landscape. In addition, technologies will be used to enhance work process efficiency. This would lead to better data analytics and problem solving abilities. More collaboration with all stakeholders is our priority as well,? said Mr. Rapee.