Thailand Securities & Exchange Commission consults on recognising private funds as institutional investors without look-through client qualification checks

Thailand’s Securities and Exchange Commission has opened a public consultation on revising the “Institutional Investor” definition as it applies to private funds, aiming to increase operational flexibility while keeping investor protection safeguards. The proposed change would allow private funds to be treated as institutional investors without requiring an assessment of underlying clients’ qualifications for investor classification purposes. The proposal is premised on private funds being managed by SEC-supervised, licensed securities business operators in the private fund management category, who are responsible for investor classification and for managing investments in line with the relevant client category. Comments can be submitted via the SEC website until March 12, 2025.