Mrs. Pornanong Budsaratragoon, SEC Secretary-General, together with the SEC delegation, participated in the IOSCO APRC Meeting to discuss and exchange experiences on regulatory approaches to key issues affecting capital market development across the Asia Pacific region. Key topics included developments in public and private markets. Discussions noted a slowdown in public markets—particularly in initial public offerings (IPOs)—while private markets have continued to grow rapidly across the region. The SEC also presented Thailand’s initiatives under the Capital Market Competitiveness and Attractiveness Initiatives, which focus on expanding access to funding for SMEs and startups, recognizing their role as an important driver of Thailand’s economic growth.

During the meeting, participants discussed the progress of initiatives under the APRC, including issues related to online harms and investor protection. There was a shared view on the importance of communication and collaboration with relevant authorities, as well as with online platform providers that are often used as channels for investment scams. In this regard, Thailand was noted to have achieved a relatively advanced level of cooperation with online platforms compared with other jurisdictions in the region. The discussions also covered the adoption of technology and innovation in the financial landscape and the future of the financial system, focusing on the development of digital technologies and digital infrastructure, including the growing trend of asset tokenization, which is reshaping market structures. In addition, participants exchanged views on the regulatory opportunities and challenges faced by regulators across the region.

SEC Secretary General Pornanong also participated in panel discussion at the EU–Asia Pacific Forum on Financial Regulation, a platform for dialogue between financial regulatory authorities of the European Union (EU) and those from the Asia Pacific region, to exchange views on issues of cross regional significance. These included sustainable finance, the enforcement of and compliance with sustainability related disclosure requirements, the development and application of taxonomies for the classification of economic activities, and the promotion of green bonds. At the forum, the SEC Secretary General delivered a presentation on The Sustainable Capital Market, highlighting developments in sustainable finance and Thailand’s approach to advancing this agenda under the 3Ts framework—Transparency, Taxonomy, and Transition—including progress made by ASEAN member jurisdictions. The discussions further covered issues related to enhancing competitiveness, regulatory simplification to facilitate implementation, the digitalization, the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in the financial sector, and online scams.

For the ASIFMA Annual Conference 2026: The Renewed Promise of Asia’s Capital Markets, the SEC Secretary General participated in a panel discussion titled The Future of Global Collaboration on Financial Policy and Regulation, alongside distinguished speakers from both the public and private sectors worldwide, including Mr. Rodrigo Buenaventura, Secretary General of IOSCO, and Mr. Filippo Gori, Co Head of Global Banking, Commercial & Investment Bank, J.P. Morgan, among others. The conference served as a regional platform for dialogue, enabling regulators and private sector participants to exchange views on developments in Asia’s capital markets and the future direction of financial policy.

The SEC Secretary General emphasized that regulators may need to place less emphasis on jurisdictional differences and focus more on shared accountability in pursuing common objectives. While international standards remain essential, they should be applied in a way that is appropriate to each jurisdiction’s context. Timely exchange of high quality information, together with close collaboration with the private sector, will be key to protecting investors without hindering the rapid pace of innovation in today’s context.

In addition, the SEC Secretary General and the SEC delegation participated in several key meetings, including the ASIC Symposium: The Asia Pacific Opportunity – Innovating for Growth, which focused on discussions surrounding market transformation driven by technology and innovation, international regulatory approaches, and the transition toward the digital era. The SEC delegation also attended the APRC Supervisory and Enforcement Directors’ Meeting, where Directors level representatives of the SEC exchanged views on supervisory and enforcement matters in capital markets amid rapid technological change, challenges related to cross border supervision, responses to online harms, the use of technology and artificial intelligence (AI) in supervision, as well as efforts to enhance transparency, efficiency, and regulatory consistency across the region, with a view to strengthening investor confidence and reinforcing the resilience of capital markets across the Asia Pacific region as a whole.