The President of The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET), Mr. Kittiratt Na-Ranong, disclosed that at the SET Board of Governors’ meeting today (Jan. 26, 2005), the Governors acknowledged the report by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The SEC had conducted an examination of the SET’s operations during September – October 2004, and its report stated that the SET’s operations have mostly met its expectations. Nevertheless, the SEC noted some important issues that required further examining. These issues included measures to prevent rumors, better adherence to the updating REHABCO companies’ information, and measures to improve listed companies’ free-float proportion.
“In addition to requiring the listed companies to submit their clarifications to the SET, from now on, whenever there are rumors concerning either a listed company or its executives, if the issue is significant or can affect the market, the SET will ask for a clear and complete clarification from the involved company immediately. If they fail to do so, their securities will be posted with an H (Halt) or an NP (Notice Pending) sign to warn investors,” Mr. Kittiratt said.
“If there’s a rumor that could cause a significantly serious impact on the market, the SET will also ask the company’s executives to hold a press conference, so that investors and the public can gain information directly from the management,” he continued.
“The SET will ask listed companies to regularly present their activities to the public. Investors will thus obtain more accurate and comprehensive information and will hence have to rely less on guessing what the listed companies’ operational results have been. This will lead to less confusion.”
The SET President also added that: “The measures will provide investors with the facts relating to any rumor, hence avoiding confusion and preventing the use of rumors to manipulate prices or cause further misunderstandings.”
The SEC has examined the SET’s operations to make sure that the SET was operating with efficiency, transparency, and trustworthiness. The SEC’s supervision is in line with current international standards and the SEC is in the process of implementing the Financial Sector Assessment Program, which will become fully operable in 2006.
Mr. Kittiratt said that, as suggested by the SEC, the SET will keep the REHABCO companies’ information up-to-date before reinstating them back to their normal sectors. Currently the information presented in the Form 56-1 may not adequately or properly reflect their current business structure, which may have changed due to the restructuring.
To encourage the free-float proportion of listed firms to be higher than the 15% minimum of a company’s registered capital as currently stipulated by the SET rules, the SET has been encouraging all listed companies to comply with the rule and will further find more measures to effectively encourage them.
