Ekniti revealed that the Cabinet has approved four capital market bills to modernize the laws, align with digital transactions, elevate the capital market, build investor confidence, and enhance regulatory efficiency and investor protection, hoping that investigations into fraud cases will proceed faster.
On 25 Aug 2026 GMT+7, Mr. Ekniti Nitithanprapas, Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister, announced that the Cabinet approved four bills concerning Thailand's capital market to modernize and align them with digital transactions. The laws will interconnect to improve regulatory efficiency and investor protection. These laws form the infrastructure of Thailand's capital market and represent an upgrade to boost market confidence.
The four bills approved by the Cabinet are: 1. The Securities and Exchange Act (No. ..) B.E. .... 2. The Futures Contracts Act (No. ..) B.E. .... 3. The Trusts for Capital Market Transactions Act (No. ..) B.E. .... and 4. The Amendment Act to the Digital Asset Business Act B.E. 2561 (No. ..) B.E. .... These will be submitted to Parliament for further consideration.
"The purpose of updating capital market laws is to modernize them to reflect today's digital economy, enhance oversight and law enforcement, protect investors, build their confidence, improve the country's competitiveness, and drive sustainable economic growth," he said.
Mr. Winij Wisesuwanphum, Director-General of the Fiscal Policy Office and spokesperson for the Ministry of Finance, added that the key elements of the four bills cover six areas: 1. Promoting digital capital markets by legally recognizing electronic transactions related to capital markets, facilitating convenience, reducing time and burden for the public and businesses, and enabling regulation of significant digital infrastructure providers, which will expand securities transactions, lower business costs, and integrate market data.
2. Regulating business operators by enhancing oversight of major shareholders to build investor confidence, making financial disclosure more flexible to allow investors faster access to financial information, and permitting securities companies that lose their licenses to continue other business operations, so customers can still use those services.
3. Regulating the secondary market and related organizations by revising laws regarding securities exchanges to allow technology providers interested in operating exchanges easier entry, promoting competition, reducing systemic risk, and providing investors with more options. It also improves oversight of securities exchanges to meet international standards, as well as enhancing supervision of clearing houses, securities depositories, and registrars to increase market confidence.
4. Fundraising and regulating audit offices and capital market service providers by requiring financial reports of market entities to be audited by SEC-approved auditors and audit firms, and requiring service providers to obtain SEC approval. This will improve the reliability of financial reporting and enable effective supervision of related service providers.
5. Improving law enforcement and penalties by authorizing SEC officials to act as co-investigators with police or special prosecutors in certain serious offenses impacting the capital market and national economy. This will reduce pre-trial procedures to speed up enforcement. Also, introducing administrative fines will shorten case resolution time compared to criminal proceedings.
6. Regulating securities and the SEC by adjusting the composition of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) board for broader coverage, clarifying the powers of the Finance Minister, SEC board, and SEC office to reduce or waive fees to support policies promoting products and services for capital market development.
Mrs. Pronong Bussaratakul, Secretary-General of the Securities and Exchange Commission, said the four bills modernize laws to align with international standards, promote competition, reduce business burdens and costs, and protect investors by ensuring transparent and reliable investment information and reducing risks from unfair market practices, thereby building investor confidence.
She added that the government will have faster and proportionate regulatory and enforcement tools, especially for serious offenses with significant impact on the capital market and national economy, which will strengthen confidence among domestic and foreign investors and support the development of Thailand's capital market as a key driver of long-term economic growth.
"Previously, capital market cases might take over two years, but with collaboration between the SEC and police, case reviews will surely be faster," she said.
