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Thailand’s SET and SEC are adapting to tech disruption

According to a recent report, in the coming years, the Stock Exchange of Thailand will adapt its business structure to transform to a partnership platform format that drives “inclusive growth” for new tech start-ups, according to the President who stated this at a seminar on “Creating New Frontier of Capital Markets” last recently.

The Stock Exchange of Thailand will introduce new projects and platforms to support tech start-ups such as Launchpad and Investment Vehicle for Enterprises (Live).

The latter is a platform to bring together start-ups, investors and sponsors and was launched earlier this year under “Live Fin Corp”, a subsidiary company of SET.

In this platform, start-ups seeking investment capital can meet with investors willing to contribute to crowdfunding startup businesses. The platform also aims to create an investor community so that retail investors are informed about various startup businesses as well as the opportunities and risks of investing in them, according to the managing director of a financial firm in Thailand.

The number of Thai start-ups funded through active angel investments, venture capital, and corporate venture capital has been increasing rapidly in recent years.

In 2012, only three funded start-ups in Thailand were officially recognised by a major tech media and conference held in Southeast Asia.

This increased to 50 in 2015, 75 in 2016 and 90 in 2017, according to the Thailand Tech Startup Ecosystem Report Q2/2018 from the media tech conference. It is expected that at least 100 funded start-ups will be seen by the end of 2018.

Meanwhile, the SEC faces various legislative challenges as the market landscape shifts due to the introduction of technological disrupters.

Many in Thailand’s ageing population are seeking to invest in affordable real-estate assets in order to secure a stable source of income as they go into retirement.

As well, the tokenisation of assets is a growing global trend that is now emerging in the Thai market, allowing middle-income investors to invest in a fraction of an otherwise unaffordable asset and become a “fractional owner” of the asset, according to the director of the fintech division of the SEC.

For example, instead of purchasing a whole building, investors can purchase tokens that represent a fraction of the asset, she says.

However, there are still legislative obstacles obstructing the advancement of asset tokenisation in Thailand.

For example, it is still legally ambiguous as to whether an asset token falls under the legal regulations of a property asset or that of a digital asset, she explains.

The director of the fintech division also expressed her concern over Thailand’s regulation of initial coin offerings (ICOs). ICOs are a fundraising method for cryptocurrency companies similar to initial public offerings (IPOs).

However, they have been used by cryptocurrency companies to bypass the rigorous and regulated capital-raising process required by venture capitalists or banks.

By passing regulatory laws on ICOs, the director sees a risk that Thai cryptocurrency start-ups may be discouraged and choose to instead launch ICOs in other countries.

This may, in turn, hinder the development of a digital ecosystem within Thailand’s economy. The challenge for the SEC is to strike a balance in its regulatory framework so that cryptocurrency start-ups are not discouraged and investors also feel safe investing in ICOs, she said.

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Qlik’s vision is a data-literate world, where everyone can use data and analytics to improve decision-making and solve their most challenging problems. A private company, Qlik offers real-time data integration and analytics solutions, powered by Qlik Cloud, to close the gaps between data, insights and action. By transforming data into Active Intelligence, businesses can drive better decisions, improve revenue and profitability, and optimize customer relationships. Qlik serves more than 38,000 active customers in over 100 countries.

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CTC Global Singapore, a premier end-to-end IT solutions provider, is a fully owned subsidiary of ITOCHU Techno-Solutions Corporation (CTC) and ITOCHU Corporation.

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Planview has one mission: to build the future of connected work. Our solutions enable organizations to connect the business from ideas to impact, empowering companies to accelerate the achievement of what matters most. Planview’s full spectrum of Portfolio Management and Work Management solutions creates an organizational focus on the strategic outcomes that matter and empowers teams to deliver their best work, no matter how they work. The comprehensive Planview platform and enterprise success model enables customers to deliver innovative, competitive products, services, and customer experiences. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, with locations around the world, Planview has more than 1,300 employees supporting 4,500 customers and 2.6 million users worldwide. For more information, visit www.planview.com.

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SIRIM is a premier industrial research and technology organisation in Malaysia, wholly-owned by the Minister​ of Finance Incorporated. With over forty years of experience and expertise, SIRIM is mandated as the machinery for research and technology development, and the national champion of quality. SIRIM has always played a major role in the development of the country’s private sector. By tapping into our expertise and knowledge base, we focus on developing new technologies and improvements in the manufacturing, technology and services sectors. We nurture Small Medium Enterprises (SME) growth with solutions for technology penetration and upgrading, making it an ideal technology partner for SMEs.

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HashiCorp provides infrastructure automation software for multi-cloud environments, enabling enterprises to unlock a common cloud operating model to provision, secure, connect, and run any application on any infrastructure. HashiCorp tools allow organizations to deliver applications faster by helping enterprises transition from manual processes and ITIL practices to self-service automation and DevOps practices. 

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IBM is a leading global hybrid cloud and AI, and business services provider. We help clients in more than 175 countries capitalize on insights from their data, streamline business processes, reduce costs and gain the competitive edge in their industries. Nearly 3,000 government and corporate entities in critical infrastructure areas such as financial services, telecommunications and healthcare rely on IBM’s hybrid cloud platform and Red Hat OpenShift to affect their digital transformations quickly, efficiently and securely. IBM’s breakthrough innovations in AI, quantum computing, industry-specific cloud solutions and business services deliver open and flexible options to our clients. All of this is backed by IBM’s legendary commitment to trust, transparency, responsibility, inclusivity and service.

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