New nominee-risk entity registrations in Thailand fall almost 75%
The Ministry of Commerce says newly registered entities matching nominee-risk criteria fell from 561 to 141, but stresses the figures do not cover all nominees in Thailand.
- The reported 75% drop applies specifically to newly registered entities considered at risk of being nominee arrangements, not all existing nominee companies.
- The decline is based on data from August 1-20, which saw 141 new nominee-risk registrations compared to 561 during the same period a year earlier.
- This reduction is a result of the Ministry of Commerce tightening pre-registration checks on shareholders and business controllers.
- Enhanced measures include cross-referencing applicant data against records of State Welfare Card holders and known mule accounts to prevent misuse of the system.
Minister of Commerce Suphajee Suthumpun said on Facebook that the ministry was responding to questions and comments from the public through its “Q&A with the Ministry of Commerce”.
One question raised after the ministry’s 90-day performance briefing concerned its statement that nominees had fallen by 75%.
Suphajee clarified that the figure referred only to newly registered entities in the nominee-risk category, not to all nominees in Thailand.
The ministry recorded 141 such entities between August 1 and 20, compared with 561 during the same period a year earlier.
This represented a decline of 420, or nearly 75%.
Suphajee said the ministry was acting on two fronts.
Before registration, it had tightened checks on shareholders and those controlling businesses, using data on about 13 million State Welfare Card holders and approximately 98,000 mule accounts, cross-checked against 1,000,000 juristic-person records.
The ministry was also reviewing registered companies in partnership with 23 agencies.
Information relating to more than 50,000 cases classed as at risk had been forwarded for further checks, while on-site inspections had been conducted in 46 areas across 13 provinces.
Four orders and two notifications were also used to strengthen measures against nominee arrangements and corporate mule accounts.
Suphajee said the ministry aimed to prevent the system from being misused while examining what was already within it.
At the same time, people conducting business honestly should be able to operate easily and compete fairly.
