Thread: Fresh incentives likely for new listings, says SET chief

STOCKS / SPURRING MARKET ACTIVITY

Fresh incentives likely for new listings, says SET chief

NUNTAWUN POLKUAMDEE
Nakhon Nayok _ New tax incentives could be approved for companies listing on the Stock Exchange of Thailand, according to exchange president Patareeya Benjapolchai.

She said M.R. Pridiyathorn Devakula, the finance minister and deputy prime minister, was receptive to the possibility of offering tax incentives for new listings.

But he ruled out any blanket tax reduction for companies already listed on the SET, Mrs Patareeya added.

In 2001, the Finance Ministry agreed to cut corporate tax rates to 20% from the standard 30% rate for five accounting years for companies listing on the Market for Alternative Investment and 25% for listings on the SET. The programme ended in September 2005.

The SET and the Federation of Thai Capital Market Organisations, a blanket group representing local brokers, listed companies, fund managers and analysts, have petitioned the government to reintroduce the tax discount to help spur capital market growth.

For the year to October, only 11 new listings have been registered for the SET and two for the MAI, well off the 36 new SET listings and 14 new MAI listings recorded last year.

The SET earlier this month announced a target of 40 new listings on the main board and 24 on the MAI for 2007.

"Our development plans aim to address constraints on both the supply and the demand side. Within the next five years, we see the capitalisation of the SET matching the country's gross domestic product," Mrs Patareeya said.

The SET currently has a market capitalisation of 5.4 trillion baht, compared with Thailand's GDP of 6.9 trillion baht at the end of 2005.

Cross-border listings would also help boost the attractiveness of the SET.

Mrs Patareeya said DTAC, the second-largest mobile operator, was expected to dual-list on the SET by the end of the year, becoming the first company to be listed on both the Thai and Singaporean exchanges.

Thai Beverage, the country's largest beer and spirits producer, also had expressed interest in dual-listing on the SET if local securities regulators gave approval, she added.

ThaiBev listed on the Singapore Stock Exchange in May after the Thai Securities and Exchange Commission declined to review its listing application following public opposition over the listing of an alcohol producer on the market.

Mrs Patareeya said new commission-fee rules would also help help boost the investor base due to lower trading costs.

The SEC earlier this month announced that commission fees, now fixed at a minimum 0.25%, would be gradually liberalised starting in 2010 and fully negotiable in 2012.

Online trading fees, now 0.2%, will fall to 0.15% starting Jan 14, and be set at 60% of normal commissions from 2010 and made fully negotiable in 2012.

"Within three years, we see the investor base rising to one million from 470,000 now," Mrs Patareeya said.

"And of those one million investors, half are expected to be active traders, compared with just 120,000 active accounts at present."

Accounts are considered active if a transaction has been made within the past six months.

Mrs Patareeya said the SET was also co-operating with the five largest banks _ Bangkok Bank, Krung Thai, Siam Commercial Bank, Kasikornbank and Bank of Ayudhya _ to allow brokers to open new "mini-branches" at local banks.
Mrs Patareeya said the introduction of direct market access (DMA) would also help institutional investors more quickly execute their trading orders.

source: Bangkok Post : Business news

what a bunch of fools. The problem is not commissions (too cheap already) or more listing. It's the kind of investors they are trying to attract. And the lack of comprehensive and intelligent information. It's already cahos and their plan is to bring more cahos. Yeah, excellent plan