In February 2024, the SEC conducted a public hearing on the proposed principles concerning the licensing of securities and derivatives businesses. Most respondents agreed with the principles for improving the overall licensing scheme and provided observations and suggestions on important issues. The SEC has incorporated such feedbacks to revise the principles for more appropriateness. For example, revising the conditions for obtaining a license to allow applicants to choose whether to engage in mutual fund or private fund management, thus avoiding the burden of setting up systems for services they do not wish to offer. Additionally, the license fee structure would be revised to ensure it would not affect the rights of the existing businesses, and the existing business licenses will be automatically migrated to the new structure (auto migration). The SEC Board has approved the revision to the principles.  

The SEC has therefore drafted 14 ministerial regulations and a notification concerning the regulations for licensing securities and derivatives businesses. This hearing invites business operators and the public to send comments and/or suggestions on the draft regulations, with the key points as follows: 

  (1) To categorize licenses by business types instead of product types, grouping businesses with similar risk profiles together. This approach would give businesses more flexibility in applying for a license without the need to apply for a new license when expanding their business operations;

  (2) To revise the licensing fee structure to charge fees based on the specific services a business intends to provide, instead of collecting the entire amount upfront. This proposal aims to ensure that business operators incur only the necessary costs for their operations; and

(3) To standardize the types of license applicants across all categories of licenses. 

Additionally, the SEC has revised related regulations. For example, the timeframe for commencing business operations has been extended from 180 days from the license approval date to 270 days from the notifying date of the license approval. This is to better align with the practical timelines of the industry and the practices of digital asset businesses. Transitional provisions have also been established to allow the licensees under the previous regulations to continue their operations without the need to apply for a new license and without incurring additional costs for business activities permitted under their existing licenses. 

The consultation paper is available at: https://www.sec.or.th/TH/Pages/PB_Detail.aspx?SECID=1009  and the legal hub at: https://law.go.th/listeningDetail?survey_id=NDA3NURHQV9MQVdfRlJPTlRFTkQ= . Stakeholders and Interested parties are welcome to submit comments and recommendations via the websites or emails: hathaiphat@sec.or.th or sukritta@sec.or.th. The public hearing ends on 7 August 2024.    

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