Thailand’s Securities and Exchange Commission, alongside the Fiscal Policy Office, the Stock Exchange of Thailand and the Federation of Thai Capital Market Organizations, announced the launch of the Thai Capital Market Attractiveness Initiative to strengthen investor confidence and improve the Thai capital market’s competitiveness and attractiveness internationally. The initiative is framed around four pillars: Quality Demand, Attractive Supply, Trusted Market and Supportive Ecosystem. Priority actions under Quality Demand include developing individual investment accounts to foster long-term investing, expanding the investor base and services (including a portfolio “wealth aggregator”), and increasing domestic institutional investors’ role to raise Thai equity allocation. Attractive Supply measures include attracting quality listings, upgrading listed company quality through the Jump+ and Value Up Program, streamlining IPO and foreign listing processes, improving funding for SMEs and the new economy, and driving ESG disclosures aligned with International Sustainability Standards Board standards with a focus on implementation. Trusted Market actions cover stronger corporate governance and enforcement, higher supervisory standards for gatekeepers, and use of technology to broaden access to information on small and medium-sized listed firms. Supportive Ecosystem priorities include improving market participants’ capacity to create diverse products, using technology to broaden retail access and support a transition to a digital capital market, reviewing market microstructure to align with trading behaviour and fairness, and facilitating more convenient e-proxy voting for foreign investors. Working groups will be established to monitor and advance the measures, and the SEC indicated a next phase covering further capital market areas including the bond market, investment units and the transition toward a digital capital market, supported by additional taskforces.

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