Tisco revamps for deregulation

Siriporn Chanjindamanee

The Nation

Considering significant changes in the capital market, particularly the demand of investors for more varied investment products, Tisco Securities plans to expand its Research Department to cover economics, politics, the debt market and derivatives.

The research will also be done in a quantitative style and use an asset-allocation strategy to boost customers' wealth management, said managing director Paiboon Nalinthrangkurn.

He said the asset-allocation strategy would include foreign investments.

Paiboon has made it clear that Tisco Securities will shift from being an expert in the stock market to an expert in asset management. This will diversify the company's revenue sources and respond to customer demand.

In addition, the restructuring is a preparation for deregulation, in particular for brokerage fees in the next four years.

"The restructuring is to prepare ourselves for the deregulation as a premium broker. This will be our strong point and make us competitive," Paiboon said.

Presently, 40 per cent of Tisco customers are individual investors, 25 per cent institutional investors and 35 per cent foreign investors. The company has 15,000 accounts, but only 3,000 are active investors.

With the restructuring, Tisco plans to boost its market share above the current level of about 3 per cent.

Meanwhile, Visit Ongpipattanakul, newly appointed executive director of Tisco Securities and head of the Research Group, expects the Stock Exchange of Thailand's composite index to reach 900-920 points, because the downward trend of interest rates has ended. Therefore, investors should shift their money to stocks, he said.