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Published on September 6, 2007

The waiver for ETF trading takes effect today, which marks the fund's debut on the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET).

Distributed to commercial banks and special state-owned financial institutions, an official circular said the Bank of Thailand allowed a waiver of the 30-per-cent reserve requirement for investment in ETFs that had been approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission and listed on the SET.

The waiver is allowed for ETFs linked to share prices.

This practice is the same with investment in equities listed on the SET.

SET chairman Pakorn Malakul Na Ayudhya said he had already been informed about the waiver.

"The central bank already signed the statement, but I cannot reveal the details," Pakorn told reporters yesterday.

Earlier, the central bank refused the waiver, but stock authorities asked it to review the decision, because ETF transactions were done in the same way as stock trading.

The ETF raised Bt1.01 billion at its initial public offering late last month.

The open-ended Thai DEX SET 50 ETF starts trading on the Thai bourse today,

with a policy of investing in SET 50 Index stocks.

The Nation