For Type A and C licenses, the applicant must be a private or public company incorporated in Thailand, meet the required paid-up registered capital depending on the business activities, and be free of reasonable grounds to believe that the applicant's financial conditions are likely to cause damage, or any other circumstances indicating the applicant's financial hardship. In addition, there must be no reasonable grounds to believe that the applicant has any deficiency or is not appropriate regarding control and sound business conduct. Finally, applicants must be able to maintain capital funds and set aside reserve capital in compliance with the laws establishing a legal entity, or the laws controlling the entity's business undertakings.
The application fee for a Type A and C license is THB 30,000 (approx. USD 877) per application. The Type C license fee (annual fee) varies according to nature of the business. For instance, the license fee for mutual fund management business consists of (i) a mutual fund management fee at 0.001% of NAV per year, and (ii) a unit sales fee at 0.01% of the sale value of investment units per year; for private fund management businesses the license fee consists of a private fund management fee at 0.001% of the NAV per year.
There are no foreign direct investment limits or foreign ownership restrictions for a company that wishes to apply for a license.
Additional comments regarding the legal situation for asset and portfolio management services or what FinTech’s must be aware of in this business area
In 2021, the SEC introduced its 'single form' to facilitate investment account opening by eliminating the need for investors to supply repetitive and redundant information on multiple forms. Instead, investors can fill in the necessary information only once upon opening an account to invest in any capital market product.
Economic conditions
Market size for asset and portfolio management services and biggest companies in this business area
According to the SEC's 2023 annual report, in 2023, there were 23 asset management companies with mutual funds under management including, eight (8) asset management companies under commercial bank groups cumulatively accounted for a market share of 80%.
The majority of sales volume comes from the investment units sold by asset management companies within the bank’s financial group. However, we see growth in sales of investment units managed by a securities company not within the bank group (open architect). This reflects banks’ customer-centric framework to cater products according to the investor’s needs and best interest. The main sales channel remained branches of commercial banks, accounting for 68%, an 8% increase from the previous year. Meanwhile, sales through securities companies and asset management companies collectively dropped from 19% in 2022 to 18% in 2023.
Additional comments regarding the economic situation for asset and portfolio management services or what FinTech’s must be aware of in this business area