Thailand ready as GMS capital-market hub

Thailand is ready to be the centre of capital markets in countries in the Greater Mekong Subregion, through investment tools designed to promote economic growth in the economies.

At the Thailand Investment Conference jointly hosted by CFA Society Thailand, Securities and Exchange Commission Secretary General Vorapol Socatiyanurak said the available tools are the infrastructure fund, the real estate investment trust (REIT), listing of holding companies in the Stock Exchange of Thailand, private equity fund, and securitisation.

"While private equity fund will pave way for greater financing for public and private projects, REIT will promote the investment in hotels and home-stay business," he said.

At the one-day conference, he noted that the tools are ready to support development in the countries, aside from technical cooperation provided by the SEC to authorities in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia.

Thailand’s SEC has also forged cooperation with Kunming, China, to help strengthen the GMS’s position.