THAILAND Law and Practice Contributed by: Wongsakrit Khajangson, Panupan Udomsuvannakul, Koraphot Jirachocksubsin and Pitchaya Roongroajsataporn, Chandler Mori Hamada
The participants consist of: • financial institutions; • companies within a group of financial institu - tions; • non-banks under the BOT’s supervision; • fintech firms; and • technology firms either test independently or in collaboration with those mentioned above. As of January 2025, there are various financial innovations running tests under these regula - tory sandboxes, eg, e-money on blockchain, cross-border payment, digital RD, peer-to-peer lending, national ID, programmable payment, TrustBiz Connext, letter of guarantee, biometric technology, QR payment, etc. Securities The amended regulatory sandbox regulations that became effective in 2020 afford operators more flexibility by increasing the types of busi - nesses that can participate. According to the SEC, the types of business under the amended regulatory sandbox regulations cover all activi - ties in capital markets. The additional types of businesses are as follows: • intermediaries – ie, securities investment advisory services, private fund management businesses, derivatives agent businesses, derivatives dealing businesses, derivatives advisory services, derivatives fund manage - ment businesses, newly-added securities brokerage businesses, securities dealing businesses, securities underwriting busi - nesses, mutual fund management businesses and securities borrowing and lending (SBL) businesses; • post-trading service providers – ie, securi - ties clearing houses, securities depository
centres, securities registrars, and the newly added derivatives clearing houses; • trading system service providers – ie, elec - tronic trading platforms (ETPs), and the newly added securities trading centres and deriva - tives exchanges; and • digital infrastructure for capital market provid - ers. Digital Asset Services The SEC’s Digital Asset Regulatory Sandbox ini - tiative, launched in August 2024, further expands the scope of innovation in the capital markets by allowing participants to test and develop digital asset services under flexible regulatory guide - lines. This initiative aims to improve service effi - ciency, reduce operational costs, and provide investors with access to new and improved digi - tal asset services. Participants in the sandbox are required to use innovative technologies such as smart contracts and AI to enhance their ser - vices. The sandbox supports six types of digi - tal asset services, ie, digital asset exchanges, digital asset brokers, digital asset dealers, digital asset fund managers, digital asset advisors, and digital asset custodial wallet providers. Insurance The Office of the Insurance Commission (OIC) issued a notification on insurance regulatory sandboxes in 2019, allowing both life and non- life insurance industry operators to conduct test - ing in their own sandboxes for certain cases. 2.6 Jurisdiction of Regulators The jurisdiction of each regulator depends on the type of financial service provided rather than the type of technology the operator of such busi - ness adopts. The key regulators of fintech busi - nesses concerning financial services, securities and insurance in Thailand are, respectively:
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