The Department of Business Development (DBD) is engaged in discussions with the Thai Bankers Association (TBA) and individual banks about establishing connections between the databases of commercial banks and the department’s AI system, to enable real-time examination of the financial status of Thai nationals who co-invest with foreign partners in companies in Thailand.
The department’s director general Poonpong Naiyanapakorn said that this would mean that they will be able to identify whether the Thai partners are genuine investors or merely nominees.
He said that, if an agreement can be reached with the TBA and commercial banks, the department will hold a public hearing, which will take about two months, the results of which will determine whether the database connectivity will become operational, tentatively in August.
According to the DBD, there about 990,000 legal entities in the kingdom, of which about 800,000 are companies, with about 120,000 companies partially owned by foreign investors holding less than 50% of the ownership.
Poonpong said the department suspects that about 80,000 of them are nominee-owned firms and it is now in the process of using AI technology to probe their profiles, shareholding and management structure, as well as their bank statements, to determine their true status. Suspect findings will be handed over to the Department of Special Investigation, the Anti-Money Laundering Office and the police for further investigation.
He disclosed that most of the nominee firms are engaged in real estate, service businesses such as logistics, guide services, restaurants and souvenir shops.
He attributed the increase of foreign investment in Thailand to the government’s policy to cut the red tape in the process for granting of permits for new companies, reducing the time required from 60 days to just 30.
He said, as of July 1, the department will replace the use of paper-based documentation in the new company registration process with a digital system which will make the process quicker.
During the first four months of this year, 29,679 new companies were registered, down by 1.56% year-on-year, partly due to tighter controls on registration to prevent the use of Thai nominees in the process.
