Attending the Asia Trader & Investor Convention (ATIC) in Bangkok over the weekend proved remarkable for two reasons. First, you learnt retail investors in Singapore face many of the same issues as those in Thailand. And second, if you think Singaporean retail investors are always the last to know where corporate governance (=can we trust 'em?) and disclosure is concerned, spare a thought for your counterparts in Thailand who are not just facing incredible uncertainty due to the way business is done in Thailand, but due to the way politics is done as well. In my view, Singaporean investors have valid grievances about a variety of issues, but they pale by comparison to those faced by Thai retail investors.

Thailand is often referred to as the land of smiles. Meeting retail investors at NextVIEW's ATIC event showed this is certainly true. Everyone was extremely courteous. But after my talk on the 5 Keys To Profitable Investing, which you can also watch in summarised form on our website, a number of members of the audience approached me bemoaning the lack of corporate governance. They made all manner of claims about insider trading, stockprice manipulation, company owners dumping unsuccessful companies onto retail investors by glossing them up in a prospectus and listing them on the market, and so on. None offered concrete proof, of course, but their concerns sounded very similar to the claims I often hear Singapore retail investors make.

Beyond that, politics seemingly plays a much bigger but less clear role in Thailand than in Singapore. While I don't profess to be an expert on the subject, my previous visits and interviews there when I was a presenter at CNBC revealed that behind all those smiles were hidden agendas, corruption and the same manoevering as you would expect anywhere else. Except worse. The political game is played very differently in Thailand. I would warmly recommend The Nation or The Bangkok Post newspapers for further reading on how the PPP - a party formed out of the ashes of Thaksin Shinawatra's Thai Rak Thai - has seemingly won government, much to the chagrin of the metropolitan-based Thais who voted Democrat, and the military which ousted Thai Rak Thai in a coup two Septembers ago. Long story short: the political agendas of companies are not obvious to the observer, and the national interest may not always be at the top of the list of priorities when executives receive a visit or phonecall from any of the political heavies.

At least in Singapore, the role government plays in the affairs of companies - if any at all - is fairly clear: furthering the national interest, even if it is at the expense of the community at large, or individual shareholders and customers (as the slogan goes, "Nation above community, community above self"). Retail investors may complain that it is not a level playing field. But at least we know what game is being played.


Mark Laudi

Labels: Asia Trader Investor Convention, ATIC, Bangkok, NextVIEW, Thailand