FUND SALES ACROSS APEC
Thailand's Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) expects a pilot project under Asia Region Funds Passport (ARFP) to begin this year.
Through the ARPF, fund managers will be able to sell their funds across the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec)'s six member countries, spanning from Australia, China, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea to Thailand.
The move came after the April 25-26 ARFP meeting. Japan and Thailand has already finalised their rules and regulations, while Australia, New Zealand and South Korea are expected to complete their regulatory requirements within the third quarter of this year. The ARFP working group is now screening participants for the pilot project, instructing mutual fund firms, related service providers and supervisory units to test their operations under the scheme.
FOREX WOES
KTB Securities (Thailand) has forecasted a drop in the first-quarter profits of energy companies and export-reliant firms due to appreciation of the Thai currency.
Mongkol Puangpetra, senior director at KTB Securities (Thailand), said energy and petrochemical companies’ foreign exchange gains in the first quarter of this year is expected to be lower than the Bt8 billion gained for the same period last year, but wil still be higher than the fourth quarter of 2017.
Exporters of electronic parts, agricultural products and foods are also expected to suffer forex loss in the same quarter. Worst hit among exporters will be electronic-parts prducers as most of their costs are in the Thai currency.
