The Securities Analysts Association (SAA) is a not-for-profit juristic person whose mission is to make Thailand more credible to investors through raising the standards of financial analysts here and their working environment.

SAA’s objectives are to:

• Promote the study and develop financial analysis as a knowledge;
• Promote standards and develop the quality and ethics of securities analysts;
• Promote the usage of financial analysis for investment;
• Promote unity among financial analysts and uphold the honor of the profession;
• Support the Thai economy by helping to develop securities exchanges;
• Promote and support securities analysis as a profession; and
• Act as the center for securities analysts in contacting other organizations.

SAA policy is determined by its Board of Directors and is consisted of at least seven directors elected by its members.

SAA’s chart of organization is as follow
 

SAA was formed as a legal entity on 21 May 1990. However, it had no full-time employees at that time, and its activities were carried out by managers and staff of the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET), the Association of Members of the Stock Exchange (AMSET, or the brokers’ association), AMSET members, and others in the investment community. All worked on SAA projects on a part-time basis, as all had regular jobs.

Fully realizing the need for a full-time organization devoted to developing securities analysis in Thailand, in December 1990, the SET, AMSET and SAA jointly sponsored an international conference focusing on the Thai capital market, the 12th Asian Securities Analysts Council (ASAC) conference, which attracted 300 leading analysts and fund managers from around the world and drew widespread interest from the local investment community. All profits from this conference, plus generous grants from the SET, AMSET and The Asia Foundation, were given to SAA to serve as its founding capital, and SAA began operations with its own office and full-time staff in February 1991. Dr. Maruey Phadoongsidhi, then President of the SET, was SAA’s founding Chairman.

Dr Panas Simasathien, Finance Minister in the Anand II government, was SAA Chairman for five consecutive terms from 27 April 1993 till 2003.

In 1992, SAA was elected as Chair of the ASAC’s first task force, called the Education Task Force, to:

• Consider creation of a regional education program;
• Collect information regarding education in the region and examine the possibility of common subjects and reciprocity/accreditation of qualifications; and
• Seek acceptance of an educational program as a regional qualification for continuing professional development with all member societies.

In 1995, ASAC became a federation, called the Asian Securities and Investments Federation (ASIF). In that same year, ASIF changed the Education Task Force into the Education Committee, in recognition of the on-going nature of its work.

In 1997, SAA stepped down from the chairmanship of the Education Committee, but remained as an active member of that grouping, and also joined the Publications Committee.

Mr. Vicharat Vichit-Vadakan, SAA Deputy Chairman, was elected ASIF Chairman for 1997-99. When his term ended, he stepped down from that post, and was elected as the International Council Investment Association Co-chairman for ASIF.

Dr. Panas Simasathien, SAA Chairman, was elected as ASIF Chairman in Kuala Lumpur, succeeding Mr. Vichit-Vadakan.

In 2001, Dr. Panas Simasathien stepped down from ASIF Chairman and Mr. Burin Kantabutra, SAA President, was elected a member of Executive Committee.

As part and parcel of the investment industry, SAA’s fortunes have been inextricably tied those of the national economy. After two decades of world-leading economic expansion, our bubble burst in 1997, and dragged SAA down.

By 2003, the economy had managed to pick up and it marked several milestones in SAA’s history:

1. The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) promoted analysts’ standards by sponsoring analysts from
   brokerage houses to sit for SAA’s Certified Investment Securities Analyst (CISA) designation, including attending SAA’s intensive review course.
2. The SET further recognized SAA’s mission of raising analyst standards by subsidizing SAA’s fixed
   overhead and raising the visibility of its activities.
3. Dr. Simasathien sadly refused to stand for re-election in 2003 due to health problems after being in this position for five terms.
4. Mr. Kantabutra reached retirement age and joined the SET as Advisor to its International Affairs
   Department.
5. SAA’ Board of Directors has been restructured to consist of mainly analysts.

Dr Kongkiat Opaswongkarn assumed the position of Chairman in March 2004. In SAA Annual General Meeting 2004 in April, the Chairman announced the new vision of being a center for the securities research profession. SAA will be open to more participation by all securities analyst professionals as members and aims to increase the number of securities analysts in the industry. SAA will act as the analysts’ representative in expressing their opinions to the public and related institutions, so as to promote their recognition at both the national and international levels.

In the long-term, SAA will be monitoring the work among its analysts’ peer group with an emphasis on ethics, independent observation and no benefit seeking from investment banking jobs or from any commission work.

In August 2004, SAA joined the other five organisations — the Association of Securities Companies (ASCO), the Listed Companies Organization, the Association of Investment Management companies (AIMC), the Thai Investors’ Association (TIA) and the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) in setting up the Federation of Thai Capital Organizations (FeTCO) to lead operators and investors to develop the Thai capital market, with main objectives to strive for market stability, to promote good corporate governance and be responsible for the society, environment and education.

Mr Sombat Narawutthichai was appointed Secretary-General of the Securities Analysts Association effective on 23 March 2006.

Membership categories and qualification requirements are as follows:

Membership is open to legal entities engaged in the financial and securities business, financial information providers, companies listed on the SET, and others involved in the investment industry.

Those with the following qualifications may apply for individual membership:

2.1 Have at least one-year experience in securities research or advising public under the
employment of specified financial institutions.

2.2 Have earned the CISA-1, CISA-2, CISA-3, CISA designation or their CFA counterparts (such
as having passed at least one level of the CFA examination).

2.3 Have registered with the SEC as licensed analysts.

Candidates working towards their CISA designations or participants in one of SAA’s financial and securities programs may apply to be Associate Members.

The breakdown by category of membership was as follows:
 

CISA

SAA’s main academic program leads to the designation of Certified Investment and Securities Analyst (CISA), which is recognized by the Thai Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the rest of the investment community in Thailand as representing the highest standards of financial analysis.

The Thai SEC requires that candidates seeking to manage any type of fund must pass the lowest level of CISA’s or CFA’s exams in order to qualify for that license.

The operation of both the exam and tuition courses has been done by Thailand Securities Institute (TSI), a subsidiary company of the SET, since 2005. The successful candidates must register with SAA to be CISA holders.

The CISA program is closely modeled after the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation of the Association for Investment Management and Research (CFA Institute), with their kind permission and support, aiming for the same levels of excellence plus expertise in Thai markets.

SEMINARS AND WORKSHOPS

SAA offers many short seminars and workshops to meet the demands of the investment community and raise the level of their expertise.

SAA offers all of the above programs on an in-house basis, which enables clients to have the course tailor-made to fit their exact needs, held at times and places that are most convenient for them.

COMPANY VISITS

Company visits were available only to SAA corporate and individual members. There was no charge for this service and we permitted an unlimited number of attendants.

An outstanding feature of SAA’s company visits is that SAA members participating in the visit send in questions in advance, so that management can include their answers in their presentations. These questions are distributed during the visit to provide ideas for the analysts.

OPPORTUNITY DAYS

The Opportunity Day is like Company visits Program but co-organises with the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) and is open to all investors who need information and news about the listed companies in making investment decisions as well as analysts.

SAA SURVEYS

SAA develops SAA surveys from time to time to collect analysts’ opinions on various issues and announce to the public.

SAA CONSENSUS

Its objective is to provide comparable analysts’ opinions on important forecasted financial performance of listed companies to investors, fund managers, executives of listed companies as well as analysts. It has been developed with the co-operation of Settrade.com and presented on www.settrade.com.

SAA FORUM

This is to provide an opportunity for analysts to get information directly from ministers or top executives of government agencies and private enterprises. It is usually held every one to two month(s).

SECURITIES ANALYST AWARDS

The Securities Analyst Awards are Thailand’s most important awards for analysts. The most outstanding analyst is declared the “Best Analyst of the Year”. This award is given to the highest scoring winner of major categories: Energy & Petrochemicals, Banking, Property & Construction Materials, Telecommunications, Medium & Small Capitalization, Strategist and Overall: Best Research House. The names of the winners are announced and trophies are presented at Securities Analyst Awards Ceremony held once a year.

SAA FUN FAIR

This is a community celebration which provides free activities, games, entertainment and food for members and analysts. The objectives are to thank them for their cooperation throughout the year and to create unity among members, analysts and concerned parties such as investor relations, sponsors, etc.

SAA also have other activities for analysts and investors. We co-ordinate with other organisations such as the Office of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Stock Exchange of Thailand, Association of Securities Companies, etc. in raising the standards of analysts as well as providing knowledge to investors. Examples of these activities are co-organising Analysts fair with SET, providing trainers for seminars, discussing with SEC on new and improved regulations and qualifications of analysts. etc.

SAA’s Web site has the latest information on our many activities.

Please visit our web site at www.saa-thai.org for more information today.