The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has announced the adjustment of regulations related to Thailand ESG Fund and the foreign mutual funds’ qualifications that Thai mutual funds can invest in. These measures are meant to increase the flexibility in the fund’s operation, address the financial products’ development and provide investors an opportunity to invest in a wider range of products. These standards took effect on August 1.
Regarding Thailand ESG Fund, the adjustment details are as follow:
- The fund is now able to invest in digital token of the sustainable sector. However, the investment must align with the initial coin offering policies, general mutual fund investment policies, as well as the policies of mutual funds that benefit from tax.
- The qualification of environmental or sustainable impact assessor has become more flexible. For the least, their methodologies used for assessing or ranking the ESG index must be published.
- There is an exemption on liquidity management regulation for investing in Thai ESG that focus on bonds, which has a holding period. This exemption, which also covers Thai ESGX, will reduce the liquidity risk to the low level.
As for the foreign mutual funds’s qualifications that Thai mutual funds can invest in, the adjustment details are as follow:
- The fund has expanded the qualification of Collective Investment Scheme (CIS) to include the fund that CIS operator did not manage directly.
- However, the issuance and offering must be under the supervision of IOSCO’s agency members and the World Federation of Exchanges’s stock exchange members.
- These funds must have qualifications that follow other regulations beside the regulation regarding CIS operators.
These standards are meant to support Thai businesses, focusing on sustainability, increase products that can invest through Thai ESG and Thai ESGX, and expand investment options in foreign mutual funds to raise Thai investors’ access in the international market.
