Stock Exchange Of Thailand: Submitting Trading Orders Directly Via Internet Approved

SET President Mr. Kittiratt Na-Ranong reported that the SET Board of Governors has approved the acceptance of trading orders sent by the investors themselves via the Internet. This new procedure may be executed at or outside the brokers’ offices. The acceptance by the SET of this new practice will become effective by April 2005. Once direct Internet trading is implemented, sending orders through remote terminals or any other similar systems will be permanently terminated. The measures overseeing this self-execution system plus the complementary order screening system will also be operational by April 2005.

“Contemporary Internet technology is as effective as the remote terminal system, and can be accessed even easier by clients,” he noted.

Mr. Kittiratt continued, “Allowing the clients to send their orders directly via the Internet is in line with the brokers’ services in overseas markets. According to the SET’s study on self-execution practices in five markets- South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, England, and the U.S.A.—it has been found that investors are allowed to execute their own orders only via the Internet. Specifically in Asia, investors using Internet trading services account for a high proportion of the total trading turnover.”

The termination of the remote terminal system’s use has been approved by the committee whose members are representatives from the Association of Securities Companies (ASCO) and the SET’s member companies currently providing such services. This approval was again ratified at the SET’s member companies’ meeting on January 13, 2005.