SEC Secretary-General Ruenvadee Suwanmongkol said: “The International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) has designated the World Investor Week 2019 during 30 September – 6 October  to raise the awareness of the importance of educating and protecting investors. The SEC is delighted to join this international campaign because we share the same objective as reflected in our continuing investor education program and our working policy that prioritizes guidelines for protecting investors’ rights.”

The SEC’s investor education highlights during the World Investor Week 2019 can be divided into four on-ground activities and the introduction of new digital tools, as follows:

1) Participating in Money Expo in Udonthani province during 4-6 October 2019 to promote provision of capital market knowledge and information to the public in the northeastern part of Thailand. For example, the roles of the SEC in supervising the market and enhancing investor protection, giving of investment advice suitable for specific goals, promoting market access for SMEs fundraising, educating the public on digital assets and self-protection against investment scams.  

2) Organizing a provincial seminar on 4 October titled, “SEC Caravan to Udonthani: Driving Provincial SMEs toward Fundraising in the Capital Market” to provide knowledge and guidelines for SMEs in provincial areas regarding fundraising via the capital market, as well as to allow stakeholders and business operators to voice their concerns and give comments and/or suggestions. The materials gathered from this event will be taken into consideration when the SEC lays out further guidelines for supporting SMEs access to capital market fundraising. 

3) Launching mobile application SEC Check First and web-based application Retirement Checkup, SEC’s two latest digital tools developed in-house for investors and the public. SEC Check First is Thailand’s first mobile application for searching products, persons and intermediaries approved or licensed by the SEC, thus providing basic information for investors’ decision making and self-protection against capital market frauds. The mobile app is also a convenient channel for the SEC to communicate and keep the users updated on important news and the latest developments such as investor alerts, quality evaluation results of listed company annual general shareholders’ meetings conducted by the Thai Investors Association (TIA)*. Retirement Checkup is a user-friendly tool for self-assessment of financial well-being to give investors and the public an overview of their readiness for retirement. Users can also post questions to the automatic chatbot (@retirementcheckup) embedded in the web-based application to allow users more convenience and privacy to contact the SEC anytime, anywhere.  

4) Running a public relations campaign to promote the launches of SEC Check First and Retirement Checkup applications via various print, website and social media channels.

“SEC Caravan to provincial areas is one of the latest initiatives we have been implementing since the public announcement of the initiative in May this year. We aim to provide useful knowledge and information to business operators, investors and the general public in line with the National Strategy in the area of democratized access to financial markets for businesses and investors. The special activities we are organizing during the week are part of our continuing efforts to promote investor education and our active support to IOSCO World Investor Week 2019,” added Ms. Ruenvadee. 

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