Thailand’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is proposing an 80% cut in the annual fee for crowdfunding portals acting as securities registrars, saying their narrower services warrant lower charges.
Under the proposal, a qualified portal providing securities registrar services solely for crowdfunding securities offered through its own platform would pay an annual fee of 10,000 baht instead of 50,000 baht. The license fee would be halved to 50,000 baht, while the application fee would stay at 30,000 baht.
The SEC says the current rates were set for general securities registrars and may be disproportionate to a portal’s limited service scope and the SEC’s lower additional cost of supervising them. Portals have told the regulator they may be unable to pass registrar costs on to the small and medium-sized issuers that use their platforms.
The reduced fees would not change the qualification and operating requirements that apply to securities registrars. The SEC also says the proposal is intended to improve the handling of records and certificates that establish investors’ rights.
A portal’s registrar license would end if its approval to operate as a funding portal ended. A portal seeking to provide registrar services beyond crowdfunding offerings on its own platform would need an SEC assessment of its readiness and would no longer qualify for the reduced annual fee.
The SEC announced the consultation on Nov. 10 and is accepting comments through Dec. 8.
