The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) is pursuing a sweeping package of statutory and structural reforms to strengthen corporate governance, attract high-growth new economy listings and make Thai companies more attractive to investors, says SET chairman Kitipong Urapeepatanapong.
“When I assumed the chairmanship [in May 2024], the Thai stock market was in a deep trough, tumbling towards 1,200 because economic conditions and politics were unstable,” he told the Bangkok Post.
“The moment politics turns unstable, foreign investors simply exit. And Thailand requires foreign investment.”
Since May 2024, the SET index has gained nearly 14%, outperforming Malaysia and Indonesia but lagging gains in South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore and Japan, where valuations for tech companies have risen sharply thanks to the investment boom in AI and related infrastructure.
Mr Kitipong acknowledged that the dominance of “old economy” companies in the banking, utilities and petrochemical sectors in the SET index has contributed to the Thai market’s relative underperformance.
But SET aims to close this gap by attracting new listings from companies that support the physical supply chains central to the AI ecosystem, such as data centres, optical fibre fabricators, and tech and power infrastructure manufacturers.
Mr Kitipong also outlined plans to modernise SET’s fundamental architecture to strengthen investor confidence, boost liquidity and attract new high-performing listings.
This includes new dual-class share structures to attract family-owned businesses and startups, introducing sovereign “Golden Shares” in state-controlled enterprises, strengthening investigative powers for securities regulators, proposing private trust legislation, and scaling up its flagship JUMP+ corporate value programme.
The JUMP+ programme, patterned after the “Corporate Value Up” initiatives of Japan and South Korea, targets listed companies identified as fundamentally sound but undervalued “hidden gems” and assists them in drafting three-year roadmaps across growth, governance and green transition metrics.
“I have proposed to the government that if a company joins JUMP+ and adopts online tax filing, we should grant a dividend tax exemption, waiving the 10% withholding tax for the first three years of profit,” Mr Kitipong said.
“The government expands its revenue base, company valuations rise and everybody wins.”
Under JUMP+, eligible enterprises can access advisory subsidies of up to 5 million baht funded by the Capital Market Development Fund to recruit external management consultants, upgrade operational technology and pursue strategic mergers and acquisitions.
To overcome the reluctance of closely held family enterprises and innovative start-ups to list, the exchange has also proposed amendments to the Public Limited Companies Act to authorise dual-class shares with weighted voting rights.
“Dual-class shares are vital for new IPOs,” Mr Kitipong said, noting that founders frequently reject public listings for fear of losing control. “The owner can float 30 to 40% to secure liquidity but retain 70% of the voting power over board appointments and key management matters.”
Also proposed is a plan to issue sovereign “golden shares” for listed state enterprises such as PTT and Krungthai Bank. By allowing state equity holdings to drop below 50%, enterprise debt is removed from the national public debt, giving management greater commercial flexibility.
In return, the government retains a single statutory Golden Share with absolute veto rights over matters of vital national interest, including public utility tariffs and energy security.
Market regulators are also proposing reforms to strengthen investigative powers to boost investor confidence, including giving the Securities and Exchange Commission authority to conduct direct inquiries, bypassing delays in police investigations.
“Previously, manipulation cases took five or six years to reach prosecutors, and more than half ended with no indictment,” Mr Kitipong said. “Manipulators treated it as an asymmetric gamble: even if caught, the fine was negligible compared to their profits. That degree of regulatory delay hurts deterrence.”
SET has also strengthened its real-time algorithmic surveillance, restricted short selling strictly to large-cap companies, and established a centralised credit bureau to prevent multi-broker margin abuse. SET is also launching a certification programme for listed company directors to boost corporate governance.
Mr Kitipong said SET also supported passing a new trust law to encourage wealthy Thai families to establish trusts and family offices locally rather than offshore.
SET is also working with the Thai Bankers’ Association to encourage small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to abandon the practice of maintaining separate bookkeeping accounts.
Companies that adopt electronic filing, invoicing and payments will receive discounted bank lending rates and automatic credit approvals. The Revenue Department will also offer expedited value-added tax refunds for electronic filers.
“The fundamental reason SMEs cannot access bank financing is that they keep two sets of books,” Mr Kitipong said.