The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) and alliances in the mutual fund industry have jointly developed the “FundConnext”, a technology-enabled fund service platform to process buying and selling of mutual fund orders, enabling investors to access the mutual funds efficiently. This platform underlines SET’s role to develop national infrastructure for the Thai capital market. Currently, over 43 participants have confirmed to utilize the platform which will be launched in March 2017.
SET President Kesara Manchusree said that the initiative FundConnext was a key national infrastructure of the Thai capital market, aiming to facilitate the public's investment in mutual funds conveniently and efficiently, in line with SET’s plan to constantly promote financial innovation among stakeholders to serve investors’ needs. The FundConnext, an open architecture platform, has been designed to standardize mutual fund operation. The Platform is flexible and can be extended to support other services in the future.
Rapee Sucharitakul, Secretary-General, The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), stated the significance of establishing this national infrastructure investment platform in enhancing competitiveness among Thai mutual fund firms. With the total net asset value of approximately THB 4 trillion (USD 115 billion), or about 30 percent of GDP, this platform would standardize the mutual fund trading, while reducing operational burdens among asset management companies and selling agents. The asset management companies could then focus more on managing returns for investors, while selling agents could concentrate more on effectively providing quality investment consulting services.
Vorawan Tarapoom, Chairman of the Federation of Thai Capital Market Organizations (FETCO) and President of the Association of Investment Management Companies (AIMC), elaborated that currently investors look for quality and convenient access of funds and investment advices that match their more complicated needs. To create long-term financial stability among investors, mutual fund firms have adopted the technology to develop innovation encompassing functions of investment planning, decision making and portfolio performance monitoring for investors. The FundConnext, an innovation created by SET, was a result from the concerted effort of the entire asset management industry and the capital market’s stakeholders. At the launch stage, SET would deploy the system to expand distribution channels, which consequently enhance the competitiveness of the Thai capital market.
Currently, 43 firms have confirmed to adopt the platform, consisting of 19 asset management companies, 14 securities firms, 5 commercial banks, 2 life insurance firms and 3 mutual fund brokerage companies. In addition, many firms applying for mutual fund brokerage license from the SEC are also interested in using this platform. SET plans to run the operational industry-wide test in December 2016 and expects to launch the services in March 2017.
