Measures for preventing conflicts of interest are an important part of the SEC policy especially in the process of securities issuance and offering, which involves participation of key intermediaries such as financial advisor, underwriter and bondholders’ representative. These intermediaries may be related to the issuer and the offeror in such a way that may have an impact on their duty performance, for example, cross-shareholding, having the same directors, and the underwriter or the financial advisor being the creditor to the issuer, etc.

The SEC, therefore, is proposing draft amendments to the handling of conflicts of interest rules to improve efficiency of the securities offering process, which include preventive measures and disclosure measures to support investors’ decision making. These proposed amendments are a result of the Regulatory Reform Project, which the SEC initiated earlier and invited stakeholders to review relevant rules while the project advisor rendered his comments and opinions based on international standards.

In addition to the draft amendments above, the SEC is seeking comments on the proposed rules related to partial securities offering to cornerstone investors whereby the underwriter would not be allowed to be a cornerstone investor of the underwritten securities to protect the best interest of investors.

The consultation paper is available at www.sec.or.th/hearing. Stakeholders and interested parties are welcome to submit comments through the website, or facsimile: 0-2263-6502, or email: corporat@sec.or.th. The public hearing ends on 6 April 2019.

                                  ___________________
Remark: the hearing documents (in Thai language only) are available at 
https://capital.sec.or.th/webapp/phs/upload/phs1553240192hearing-14-2562.pdf