|
No. 109 / 2023
|
Thursday 29 June 2023
|
|
SET, ASCO and TBA join hands with SEC, CMDF and ThaiBMA in launching the DIF Web Portal, a digital infrastructure for corporate bond issuance
|
Bangkok, 29 June 2023 – The Stock Exchange of
Thailand (SET), the Association of Securities Companies (ASCO), and the Thai
Bankers’ Association (TBA) (main operators) joined hands with the Securities
and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Capital Market Development Fund (CMDF), and
the Thai Bond Market Association (ThaiBMA) in launching the first service
system under the Digital Infrastructure (DIF) of Capital Market project, the DIF
Web Portal to support electronic end-to-end offerings of primary-market corporate
bonds, from issuance, filing, subscription, payment and delivery, the first
ever in Thailand. This newly launched DIF Web Portal, which is in the pilot
phase of the SEC sandbox, is expected to help enhance efficiency and transparency
of the capital market services, reduce costs, facilitate accessibility of the
fundraisers and investors, and strengthen supervisory effectiveness, laying
down an accommodating infrastructure for the transformation of the Thai capital
market towards digitalization to keep pace with the rapidly changing global
dynamics.
|
Mr. Thawatchai Pittayasophon,
SEC Deputy Secretary-General, Acting Secretary-General said “The SEC initiated
the DIF project near the end of 2019, with support from the CMDF. The project
was incorporated in the 4th Capital Market Development Plan (2022-2027), under
the “Digitalized Capital Market” strategic direction. The SEC is determined to
push forward further development of DIF Web Portal to become a fully
digitalized infrastructure of the capital market. The successful launch of the DIF
Web Portal today is a significant milestone, at which the work of market
participants becomes integrated, with the objective to transform capital market
processes towards 100% digitalization, strengthening market competitiveness and
efficiency for sustainable growth.
The SEC would like to take this opportunity to express our gratitude for the
collaboration and contribution from the CMDF, the CMDF Digital Infrastructure
Co., Ltd., the ThaiBMA, business operators including securities companies,
commercial banks, related agencies and securities issuers, who have joined
forces in this endeavor. The SEC will cooperate with all relevant parties in
the effort to further develop the project by expanding project development, driving
for amendments to the laws and regulations posing obstacles to the industry,
promoting the use of system and making use of the information for capital
market development.”
Ms. Jomkwan Kongsakul, CMDF Vice Chairman revealed that, “CMDF’s allocation of
resources to support capital market infrastructure development is one of the core
missions of the Fund. The funding for DIF Web Portal development is a key example
of such support. The CMDF is pleased to have contributed to the success of the
project, which not only develops systems that benefit the market concretely,
but also proves the effective collaboration among market participants, an
important component for capital market development towards sustainable goals.”
Dr. Pakorn Peetathawatchai, SET President as a representative of main operators
said “The DIF Web Portal launched today is a digitalized service system for
bond offerings in the primary market, from issuance, filing, subscription, payment
and delivery in scripless form. The system is funded by the CMDF, through
establishment of the CMDF Digital Infrastructure Co., Ltd. as the owner of the
system and the ThaiBMA is the operator for day-to-day operations of the
system.”
Dr. Somjin Sornpaisal, President of the ThaiBMA as the system operator said “In
support of the DIF project, the ThaiBMA plays a dual role of bond registration,
which is one of the association’s key functions, and day-to-day system
operations.
The ThaiBMA is proud to be part of this project and through cooperation with
the CMDF, the SEC and relevant sectors, in an effort to develop the DIF towards
becoming a significant digital infrastructure for the Thai capital market, the
ThaiBMA is committed to further developing the Thai bond market to grow
sustainably in the fast-changing digital world.”
The DIF Web Portal utilizes advanced technology, with digital standard
messages, to connect bond offering transaction systems used by all stakeholders
in an end-to-end manner, which in turn helps facilitate data transmission in an
efficient, transparent, cost-reduction, paper-reduction and redundancy-minimizing
way. Data transmission in the electronic, machine-readable form also expedites the
use of data for further processing. As such, the introduction of the DIF Web Portal
can help develop the capital market’s digital infrastructure that increases
efficiency in the investment ecosystem and supports new product developments in
the future. As of May 2023, the first group of four
issuers offering bonds through the newly-launched system consisted of (1) PTT
Public Company Limited (PTT), (2) PTT Exploration and Production Public Company
Limited (PTTEP), (3) Toyota Leasing Thailand Co., Ltd., and (4) KASIKORNBANK
Public Company Limited, with a total bond offering value of over 6.7 billion
baht.
The collaboration of all relevant parties has contributed to the successful completion
of the first phase of DIF Web Portal development, enabling pilot offering
activities of corporate bonds and being ready to open opportunities for
additional securities issuers and market participants to take part in the
system testing and create investment innovations for investors. Currently,
there are 16 participants in the sandbox. The project will be developed further
to cover other types of investment products and related processes. __________________________
|
|