At the academic seminar entitled “Investor protection mechanism and building confidence in the capital market” hosted by  SEC on Wednesday 20 November 2019, experts from Australia and Malaysia took turn to share knowledge and experience relating to the setting up of similar funds in their respective countries and how to handle investor complaints and manage disputes. During the panel discussion, capital market participants were invited to comment and exchange views on setting up an investor protection fund in the Thai capital market which is considered as laying down infrastructure for making a strong investor protection scheme possible. 

According to SEC Secretary-General Ruenvadee Suwanmongkol, “Protecting investors is one of SEC’s main tasks. SEC has put in place a system to receive investors’ complaints as well as an arbitration process to offer investors and market participants an alternative to settling their disputes. In recent years, additional efforts have been made in different areas to enhance investor protection; for example, running public information campaigns to raise awareness about class-action litigation as a way to protect investors’ rights, improving the investor complaint system and making it available 24/7 as well as  developing an investor protection search tool - SEC Check First App - to enable investors to check companies providing products or services in the capital market to prevent fraud. The concept to set up an investor protection fund is another initiative to help strengthen investor protection in the Thai capital market, making it more systematic and well-integrated to enhance investor confidence”.

Chairman of the Association of Securities Companies (ASCO), Mr. Pichet Sithi-Amnuai, said that “securities companies have teamed up with the Stock Exchange of Thailand to establish the Securities Investor Protection Fund (SIPF). The SIPF pays compensation for damages due to securities trading disputes between investors and market participants either in the Stock Exchange of Thailand or the Thailand Futures Exchange. Setting up an investor protection fund in the capital market would have a good impact as it helps extend investor protection to other types of instruments beyond what is already covered under the current scheme”.

Chairman of the Association of Investment Management Companies (AIMC), Mr. Vasin Vanichvoranun, said that “Building mechanism to protect investors corresponds with how business operates today whereby business operators need to put investors first. The idea [of investor protection] becomes clearer and more concrete as its protection coverage extends across the board. Having a regulator involved in investor protection, particularly having an investor protection fund in the Thai capital market, means that the proposed fund must have clear objectives and the procedures fair to both parties”.

President of the Thai Investors Association (TIA), Mr. Kengkla Ruckphaopunt, said that “retail investors in the Thai capital market should be protected by relevant authorities in a correct and proper manner. There should also be measures in place to prevent problems when investors use services by different providers. If issues arise, investors should be able to seek remedies and solutions from protection mechanism, depending on the types of risks and the types of products and their providers. Effective investor protection will eventually bring about investor confidence in the Thai capital market”. 

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