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SEC to meet with BOT over suspected speculation
The Securities and Exchange Commission will hold a discussion with the Bank of Thailand about measures to prevent currency speculation by gold shops.
Vorapol Socatiyanurak, secretary-general of the securities watchdog, said yesterday that it was ready to discuss this issue with the central bank.
However, the Commerce Ministry oversees gold imports and trade in gold bars and gold ornaments.
Gold traded outside the Thailand Futures Exchange became an issue when BOT Governor Prasarn Trairatvorakul was monitoring gold trade that could be a channel for currency speculation.
Prasarn said he was in touch with the SEC and the Finance Ministry on this issue.
Jitti Tangsithpakdi, chairman of the Gold Traders Association, said there should be not much speculation but expressed concern over online trading.
HIGHER BOOZE TAX
The Excise Department started collecting the new excise tax on alcoholic beverages this week.
Somchai Poolsawasdi, director-general of the department, said yesterday that the department began its enforcement of the tax increase on September 4, but could not collect any money as manufacturers had claimed that they were shipping their old stocks over the past two weeks.
“However, the collection of the new excise tax on alcoholic beverages started its operational effect actually this week as manufacturers began to move their products from factories to the market and were required to report their retail or wholesale prices at the last step in the supply chain,” he said.
BBL PLANS DOLLAR-DENOMINATED NOTES
Bangkok Bank has proposed dollar-denominated senior notes under a medium-term note programme worth US$3 billion (Bt94 billion).
Moody’s Investors Service has assigned a provisional “A3” foreign-currency long-term senior unsecured debt rating while Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services assigned its “BBB+” long-term issue rating.
BBL can issue senior notes of any maturity under the programme, which comes amid high competition for deposits to fund high loan demand.
NBTC to cut phone-number red tape
The National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission is improving its number-allocation process and regulations to serve high demand for new mobile-phone numbers.
Yesterday its telecom committee approved two draft amendments to the regulations governing numbering and the number-allocation process, which will be submitted to the NBTC’s meeting on October 16 for approval. A public hearing will be held after that.
The new regulations should help all mobile-phone operators shorten the process of requesting additional numbers from a couple of months to only 45 days for new operators and 30 days for existing operators, said Chitsata Sriprasertsuk, executive director of the NBTC’s numbering management bureau.
The NBTC has assigned 120 million mobile-phone numbers to all existing telecom operators, of which about 90 million are active. There are about 130 million numbers left in its numbering system.
The NBTC reportedly earns about Bt2 billion a year from phone-number fees.
Bangkok hosts Chiba Fair
Japanese pears, jelly, peanut butter and wasabi are among the products available at the Chiba Fair running in Bangkok until next Wednesday.
Chiba prefecture is the largest producer of nashi pears and peanuts in Japan. When Governor Kensaku Morita was granted an audience with Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhom in August last year, he had the honour of presenting nashi to the Princess.
The prefecture near Tokyo hopes that many people in Thailand will have a chance to try sweet and delicious nashi at the Central Food Hall inside the Central Department Store at Chidlom and Tops Market inside the Central Pinklao shopping mall.
SEC backs financial literacy project
The Securities and Exchange Commission has joined with 13 organisations to promote the “Financial Literacy: Road to Thailand’s Prosperity” project, which aims to raise public awareness in personal finance, retirement savings, accessibility to suitable financial products and services, and investor rights and protection.
The 14 partners are the SEC, the Insurance Commission, the Social Security Office, the Government Pension Fund, the Stock Exchange of Thailand, the Federation of Thai Capital Market Organisations, the Thai Bond Market Association, the National Credit Bureau, the Association of Thai Securities Companies, the Association of Investment Management Companies, the Thai Investors Association, the Thai Listed Companies Association, the Thai Financial Planners Association and the Securities Analysts Association.
Vorapol Socatiyanurak, secretary-general of the SEC, said the collaboration aimed to promote the exchange of information and action plans on knowledge management, experiences and outcomes of financial and investment education as well as risk management.
It will also address the content and communication to target groups, integrated cooperation and redundancy reduction, and effective information management.
This will ultimately promote target groups’ knowledge and healthy financial habits, the commission hopes.
KPN launches Sathorn condos
KPN Group Corporation Co has launched the Bt2.7-billion Diplomat Sathorn condominium project, with units priced from Bt7.9 million to Bt53 million.
Construction will commence next May with completion expected at the end of 2016.
“This is the third project after the company succeeded in selling the first two projects, Capital Ratchprarop-Vibhawadee and Capital Ekamai-Thong Lor worth Bt3 billion,” chairman Kris Narongdej said yesterday.
Furniture company lists on MAI
Bangkok Dec-Con will list and start trading today on the Market for Alternative Investment under the ticker symbol “BKD”, after raising Bt270 million from an initial public offering.
BKD, a manufacturer of wooden furniture, has paid-up registered capital of Bt350 million, consisting of 520 million existing common shares and 180 million newly issued shares at par value of Bt0.50 each. The new shares were offered to the general public from September 16-18 at Bt1.50 per share, for a total of Bt270 million. Bangkok City Advisory Co is the company’s financial adviser, while Asia Plus Securities is its underwriter.
BKD’s four major shareholders after the IPO are the Ratanasuwanachart family with 73.57 per cent and Annop Limprasert, Sompongse Chonkadeedumrongkul and Worawon Jungsuppisan with 2.86 per cent each. The IPO price had a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.54 times, calculated using earnings after extraordinary items over the last four quarters to June 30, divided by the number of fully diluted shares, or earnings per share of Bt0.13.
The company’s dividend policy is to pay at least 40 per cent of net profits after corporate taxes and reserves.
Fitch conference on Friday
Fitch Ratings (Thailand) will host its annual conference in Bangkok on Friday with the focus on global economic, corporate and banking risks, as well as on the rating outlook for Thailand.
The event will be held from 8am-12 noon at the Grand Ballroom of Plaza Athenee Bangkok. Fitch says it is honoured to welcome Prasarn Trairatvorakul, governor of the Bank of Thailand, as the keynote speaker.
