Exchange ready for usual operations

He said the SET had confirmed to foreign stock exchanges which expressed the concerns that the floods were not affecting the trading system, which was operating as normal. The SET will remain open on Oct 27,28 and 31.
“We have checked with brokerages about their operational readiness, and they have clear policies on the matter, but we told them to ready their systems and staff in case the floods affect their operations,” he added.
The SET is also coordinating with the Association of Securities Companies over contingency measures should staff at both the bourse and brokerage firms find they are unable to get to work because of the floods.
Even though the trading system can still operate as normal if bourse staff and brokers are working at the SET building, the big concern is that their workforces may not be able to reach their offices if the flood waters inundate many areas of Bangkok.
Therefore, the SET has allowed the marketing staff of brokerages to transfer orders to the bourse from outside, but each brokerage house must inform the exchange about how many staff will be involved in this activity, the SET chief said.
Moreover, the SET is considering adjustments to the connecting system for trading operations between itself and brokerage houses, in case some securities houses need to move their operations to branches in provinces unaffected by the flooding.
Charamporn said the bourse had had a business-continuity plan in place since June to prepare for the worst-case scenario, under which it could move operations to a building in a safe zone and the headquarters would maintain only a skeleton staff.
At present, each division of the SET is setting its own staffing schedule, taking into account the effect of the flooding on workers’ travel to and from the SET building.
“We have prepared trucks to transfer staff from the SET building to the Skytrain, as the BTS has confirmed it is still operating a normal service.
“We are also closely monitoring the subway, as any closure would greatly affect the travel of our staff,” he added.

Meanwhile, a source at the SET said that new market capitalisation this year could fall short of the targeted Bt100 billion because of bad market sentiment. He said that market capitalisation from new listings in the first half had come in at Bt58 billion, which meant there was now only a slim chance of achieving Bt100 billion for the full year.
Market sentiment is not good for either investors or companies |planning to list on the stock exchange.
The Securities and Exchange Commission can, however, now process listing applications more quickly. At present, seven firms are awaiting SEC approval.
Meanwhile,