A new direct market access (DMA) service has been launched in Thailand by local broker Seamico Securities and GL Trade, a provider of trading and connectivity technology to global financial institutions.
The new service, which will be available from early 2009, will allow non-exchange members to send orders to the Stock Exchange of Thailand via Seamico, one of the country’s top five equity houses by market share.
The Stock Exchange of Thailand lists 549 companies and reported daily average turnover of October 2008 was $413 million.
DMA is a one of a wider range of services launched by Seamico, following recent technology investments. “We expect most demand for our new DMA service to initially come from inbound institutional investors,” executive director Thanawat Patchimkul told theTRADEnews.com. “Even though recent legislative changes have made it possible for local Thai retail and institutional investors to invest directly in the offshore markets, a period of education will be required before a large amount of local investors begin using our DMA capabilities to access other markets."
Institutional investors can access Seamico's DMA service both via FIX connectivity and GL NET, GL Trade’s low-latency order routing and trading network.
"Institutional investors are looking beyond more established markets to link up to growth markets such as Turkey, Mexico and Malaysia, as well as countries such as Thailand where regulatory changes are needed to facilitate international flow,” said Philippe Carré, global head of client connectivity, GL Trade. “Seamico will benefit from GL NET’s worldwide order routing, which includes the capacity for international FIX order flow to reach their DMA offering.”
GL Trade provides access to almost 150 markets via GL NET’s 30 global hubs as well as to over 60 venues via ASP gateways.
“Being on GL NET is the latest effort that shows Seamico’s commitment to bringing our services on a par with world class financial markets,” said Chaipatr Srivisarvacha, Seamico’s executive chairman.