Bangkok, 1 April 2020 – SEC has imposed a 10-year revocation of approval as personnel in the capital market business on Mr. Jeremy Lechemere King for performing duties without loyalty as professional and neglecting supervision, subsequently causing deficiencies to the company’s work systems in many cases. At the time of his misconduct, he was chief executive officer and fund manager of Siam Knight Fund Management Securities Co., Ltd. (SKFM). SEC has also revoked the approval for him as major shareholder of securities company and derivatives business operator for 5 and 10 years, respectively.
According
to the findings of SEC inspection on the operation of SKFM whose main business
is private fund management, in 2018 Mr. King, CEO and fund manager of the
company at the time, acted in the following manners:
(1) funneling damage incurred from
investment among the clients of private funds by making cross-trade
transactions of shares under trading suspension (SP) sign on a continual basis
from 2015 to 2017;
(2) managing private funds without taking the
clients’ best interest into consideration. In so doing, he arranged for the clients
to invest in a foreign fund with a conflict of interest with SKFM and in turn such
foreign fund invested in another foreign fund with a conflict of interest and
so on and so forth in subsequent sequences. As a result, the clients had to pay
redundant expenses without the knowledge of the undisclosed information of such
conflicts of interest, both before and after investing in such foreign funds;
(3) failing to have the independent director
review the work of the SKFM management from 2016 to 2018; and
(4) neglecting the supervision of SKFM operation,
causing deficiencies in many cases. For example, not putting the assets of private
fund clients in custody of depository, allocating IPO shares to private fund
clients only while allocating none to mutual funds under the company’s management,
and specifying the fair value of SP shares without referring to the prices
specified by the Association of Investment Management Companies.
His demeanors above were liable to be
prohibited characteristics of personnel in the capital market business. SEC has
therefore revoked the approval as personnel in the capital market business for
Mr. King for 10 years, as major shareholder of securities company for 5 years,
and as major shareholder of derivatives business operator for 10 years.
Due
to the deficiencies in duty performance of Mr. King, SKFM was subject to
violation of Section 117, Section 133 and Section 136 of the Securities and
Exchange Act B.E. 2535 (1992). On 13 March 2020, the Settlement Committee
imposed a fine of 8.06 million baht on the company. In the case of Mr. King, he
committed offenses under Section 283 as well as Paragraph 3 and Paragraph 4 of
Section 285bis of the Securities and Exchange Act B.E. 2535 (1992), as
amended by the Securities and Exchange Act (No. 5) B.E. 2559 (2016).
The Settlement Committee will consider a fine penalty on Mr. King in due course.
Meanwhile, due to his deficiencies in duty performance, Mr. King is liable to
have prohibited characteristics of personnel in the capital market business as
well as major shareholder of securities company and derivatives business
operator.
SEC places a crucial importance on operating
business and providing services to clients with loyalty while applying knowledge
and skills with discretion as professional. In the case of SKFM, SEC ordered the
company, a small-sized asset management company whose main business is private
fund management, to solve the detected issues in accordance with the standards
and guidelines for business operation. The company has already taken action
accordingly.
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