More young Thai talent needed to improve financial markets

Krisada Sektrakul, SET senior executive vice president and head of the Capital Market Education Division, says that with more young professionals joining, more foreign investors will put their money in the Thai financial market through those young talents. Also, with a restructuring in the local markets, there is a need for more professionals.
“Our country is still suffering from a big shortage of professionals,” he said.
Young Financial Star (YFS) is a cooperation between the SET, Muang Thai Life Assurance and other companies. It aims to promote knowledge and understanding in financial planning for youths by studying and competing in a range of intensive and challenging scenarios in finance and investment. The programme has led to networking of the Young Financial Star participants and inspired youngsters to have an increased role in spreading the idea of personal financial management.
The contest – mainly participated in by university students – involves course training, written examination, submitted financial investment plans for different categories and, finally, on-stage competition.
Winners of the YFS 2016 recently went on a study tour to China and South Korea, during which they visited the Shanghai Stock Exchange and the Korea Stock Exchange. While in Shanghai, the youngsters also had an opportunity to visit the head office of Taiping Life Insurance, a leading Chinese assurance company, and a key business ally of Muang Thai Life Assurance. Krisada says innovation is key in the attempt to add more value to the country’s economy, as it means new products being introduced to the market. The stock market, in turn, will benefit from increased value of the economy, he said.
“Before we can create innovation, we need to create people who are good in science and technology. We also need financial professionals who are ready for the change of times,” the SET executive said.
“Innovation involves not only products, but also transactions and investments. We need to push for added value in the Thai economy. And I believe that youngsters from the YFS project will be an important component in driving the move [towards that],” he added.
Khemjira Chuencharoensook, winner of the YFS Award’s Muang Thai Life Assurance Star category, said that she had learned a lot about life insurance since joining the project.
She said life insurance and other kinds of assurance could help ensure that people’s goal of saving certain amounts of money would not be interrupted by some unexpected incident. “If something bad happens, the original goal will not be affected, with the compensation from the assurance policies,” she said.
A postgraduate student at Thammasat University’s Faculty of Commerce and Accountancy, Khemjira said life insurance should be among the first things to arrange for people making their long-term financial plans.
“If something bad happens to us, our families will be able to continue their usual lives. You should view life insurance as a way to manage risks,” she said.
Nanpicha Chungsiriwat, winner of the YFS Award’s SET Investment Star category, said that stock investors nowadays are influenced by rumours spread through different channels, including social media. He noted that many stock investors, including his father, rely only on suggestions from marketing officials at brokerage firms and often end up making losses. 
He said investors should rely more on themselves by finding information about stocks that they are interested in, as well as seeking advice from financial professionals. “I would place more importance on operating results and financial statements of the particular companies,” said Nanpicha, who is a postgraduate student at Thammasat University’s Faculty of Commerce and Accountancy.