Thailand
Thailand: SEC en route to complete rule guillotine
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is scheduled to complete its regulatory guillotine plan by 2022, meant to cut redundant regulations and tighten bureaucratic processes.
It is designated as a key project under the SEC’s 20-year strategic plan (2018-37).
The regulatory guillotine is a review of existing laws and regulations with the objective of reducing the number of documents required to be filed with the SEC and reviewing the efficacy of existing regulations.
The reviewed laws and regulations no longer necessary or acting as obstacles to work processes will be abolished or revised. The methods used must be done with speed, transparency, at low cost and with participation from all related parties.
The SEC has 81 projects set to be completed by 2022. Of these, 38 will be dedicated to intermediary companies under the SEC and the exchange market, 19 to fundraising, another 19 to asset management, four to accounting supervision and one to IT, said Thawatchai Pittayasophon, assistant secretary-general of the SEC.
The regulatory reform will focus on five main topics including tightening law enforcement; upgrading the Federation of Thai Capital Organizations and other focal economic organisations to corporate entities; revising SEC regulations to improve its legal effectiveness; extending auditing supervision to auditing companies; and the introduction of a witness protection law to ensure accommodation, safety and living expenses for witnesses.
A total of five projects have been completed as of the third quarter this year, Mr Thawatchai said.
These comprise of the development of a paperless application process for mutual funds; the reduction in the number of required bond filing forms from 32 to 12; the addition of an online channel for approved auditors to file applications; a regulatory revision to restrict unit-holding of mutual funds; and a review of the SEC’s regulations regarding the transmission of electronic data.
Source: https://www.bangkokpost.com/business/2016947/sec-en-route-to-complete-rule-guillotine