Under the plan, the SET would be divided into two entities - surveillance, which will be integrated into the securities watchdog, and a revenue-producing entity, a Finance Ministry source said yesterday.

The amendment to the Act was initiated by Pridiyathorn Devakula when he was finance minister in the Surayud Chulanont administration to push through a major revamp in the securities watchdog's organisational structure.

It includes the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) being demutualised.

The amendment will empower the SEC board to appoint a committee on capital market surveillance, and all regulations in future will have to be approved by the

committee, the source said.

In addition, the committee will have a mandate to amend or scrap SET regulations. Currently, the SET can issue some regulations, which are not subject to SEC approval.

Piset Sethsathian, managing director of Trinity Advisory's investment banking unit, commented that the formation of the committee on capital market surveillance would overlap with the responsibilities of the SEC's board of directors.

He observed that the Act amendments include the establishment of an audit committee to monitor the SEC, despite the fact that the committee on capital market surveillance, in practice, will have full management authority.

Siriporn Chanjindamanee

The Nation