Bangkok, June 18, 2015 ? The SEC and the School of Development Economics of National Institute of Development Administration (NIDA) co-organized ?Thai Equity Fund Insight? at the 5th SEC Working Papers Forum, 2015. 

The SEC jointly with NIDA hosted ?Thai Equity Fund Insight? at the 5th SEC Working Papers Forum, 2015 where the researchers of the SEC and the School of Development Economics, NIDA presented the study on Thai equity fund performance and information of which investors should learn prior to making decision to invest in funds.  The Forum was hosted under the Memorandum of Understanding between the SEC and four leading business schools, aiming to apply academic researches into the capital market development. 

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Sorasart Sukcharoensin, NIDA researcher, said that the study on ?Persistence of Equity Mutual Fund Performance in Thailand? evaluated whether or not the performance of Thai equity funds persist. Good mutual funds should provide both returns satisfying investment goals of investors under acceptable risk levels and performance persistence at higher yield than that of the benchmark. The study showed performance persistence in Thai equity funds over the periods of time; accordingly, investors can use historical fund performance as guidelines for their investment decision making. The financial crisis may, nevertheless, impact mutual fund performance persistence during the said periods. Additionally, the comparative study on mutual fund performance amongst ASEAN countries demonstrated the highest level of performance persistence in Thai equity funds.

Chanchai Mateepithaktham, the SEC researcher, described in presenting ?Mutual Fund Fees & Performance? that the mutual fund fees and expenses may substantially affect the value of investors? portfolio, especially those with long-term investment in mutual funds for their retirement. Equity funds with higher total expense ratio (TER) may not necessarily provide higher returns while those with better performance and lower TER are available for investors. Thus, investors should learn of information relevant to investment in mutual funds, including mutual fund fees & expenses and performance persistency, for example. Besides, mutual funds with low fees and rule-based investment strategy such as strategic betas have gained more popularity in many markets.