SEC advances five key measures to curb illicit funds and combat mule accounts and investment scams as a national agenda

Bangkok, 1 April 2026 - The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is advancing regulatory oversight of the capital market and the digital asset market through five key measures aimed at curbing illicit funds and combating mule accounts and increasingly sophisticated investment scams that exploit advanced technology and digital channels. The SEC emphasized that the issue has been designated as a national agenda requiring urgent and serious action.

In the current environment, investment scams have intensified, resulting in widespread financial losses to the public and posing a serious threat to the country's social and economic stability. In response, the SEC has taken ongoing actions, focusing on both preventive measures to mitigate potential harm and enforcement actions against misconduct, while working in close coordination with relevant agencies.

Accordingly, the SEC has enhanced five key measures, including actions implemented through both securities companies and digital asset business operators, to more effectively curb illicit funds and combat mule accounts and investment scams, as outlined below.

1. Strengthening Know Your Customer (KYC) and Customer Due Diligence (CDD) for Securities Companies: The SEC will enhance customer due diligence (CDD) to ensure a more comprehensive assessment aligned with customers' income and occupation profiles, alongside ongoing monitoring of investment behavior. Where red flags are identified, securities companies must conduct Enhanced CDD and submit Suspicious Transaction Reports (STRs) to the Anti-Money Laundering Office (AMLO). In addition, stricter controls will be imposed on deposits and withdrawals by requiring account name matching and delaying transactions involving high-risk customers. The SEC will also strengthen verification mechanisms for the implementation of Enhanced KYC.

2. Enhanced Scrutiny of Major Shareholders and Ultimate Beneficial Owners of Licensed Business Operators: Currently, the SEC oversees major shareholder structures by taking into account ultimate controlling persons through both direct and indirect shareholdings, and requires that major shareholders are not subject to prohibited characteristics, such as being under allegations or legal proceedings under anti-money laundering laws. To keep pace with increasingly complex ownership structures and to better reflect ultimate control, the SEC will expand the definition of major shareholders to include funding sources and providers, and enhance prohibited characteristics to cover money laundering and terrorism financing offenses in both domestic and international contexts.

3. Tracing Fund Flows to Prevent Illicit Funds: The SEC requires digital asset business operators to report transaction data via the e-Reporting system to support the monitoring, review, and reporting of the overall picture of suspicious transactions, as well as transaction screening using blockchain forensic tools. Going forward, the SEC will further enhance fund flow tracing to improve precision and effectiveness by: (1) upgrading advanced analytics tools to trace funds to their ultimate destination and strengthen the detection and prevention of abnormal transactions; (2) aligning digital asset transfer transaction standards with risk profiles comparable to cash transactions; (3) implementing the Travel Rule by requiring ordering digital asset business operators to transmit transaction details and identifying information for both the sender and the receiver simultaneously with digital asset transfer transactions and requiring digital asset business operators to establish risk management measures related to the transferring and receiving of digital asset transfers; (4) regulating stablecoin trading and exchange activities in line with foreign exchange (FX) transactions to prevent their use as channels for illicit funds; and (5) cooperating with the Bank of Thailand in overseeing the use of foreign currency quotas to enhance the prevention and interception of high-risk transactions in the digital asset market.

4. Ensuring Clear, Transparent, and Timely Disclosure of Material Information: To support informed investment decisions, the SEC has put in place measures including: requiring listed companies to clearly disclose their shareholder structures, the top ten major shareholders, and any changes in shareholdings at every 5% threshold within three business days (T+3) through Form 246; requiring compliance with tender offer requirements when shareholding thresholds are reached; and establishing fiduciary duties of directors and executives to prevent self-dealing and conflicts of interest. The SEC will also develop cross-system data analytics to detect irregularities, such as inconsistencies between shareholder lists and actual trading behavior, shareholder information and asset trading data.

5. Strengthening Multi-Agency Collaboration to Combat Illicit Funds: The SEC works closely with government agencies, including the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society, to block illegal platforms, expand follow-up actions based on asset seizure and freezing information from the Anti-Money Laundering Office (AMLO), and participate in the "Connect the Dots" task force to enhance regulatory oversight across three dimensions: identity, behavior, and fund flows. In addition, the SEC strengthens collaboration among multiple agencies to integrate data and trace fund flows in a comprehensive manner to effectively curb illicit funds. This includes enhancing data-sharing mechanisms and conducting joint operations with inquiry officials and relevant regulatory authorities to improve the effectiveness of monitoring and examining information and financial transaction flows.

Mrs. Pornanong Budsaratragoon, Secretary-General of the SEC, stated that "the enhancement of all five measures-covering the regulatory oversight of market intermediaries in both the capital market and the digital asset market, disclosure requirements, and the comprehensive integration of fund flow monitoring in all dimensions-will deliver tangible results in curbing illicit funds. In the next phase, the SEC will accelerate integrated collaboration with relevant agencies, including the Connect the Dots task force, to link data, jointly trace and plan the examination of fund flows to more clearly identify the ultimate destinations of transactions. This will ensure targeted prevention of mule accounts and suspicious transactions, while strengthening investor confidence and enhancing long-term transparency in Thailand's capital market."