Bangkok: The SEC has suspended Capital One's approval as a financial advisor and operating controller for 1 year, citing negligence in its duties to a company that is planning an IPO.
According to Thai News Agency, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has ordered a one-year suspension of the financial advisory approval of Capital One Partners Public Company Limited (Capital One) and its operating controller, Mr. Piya, due to negligence in performing their duties as financial advisor to a public company that filed an application for permission to offer newly issued shares to the public for the first time (IPO application).
The SEC found that Capital One and Mr. Piya had committed serious negligence in performing their duties as financial advisors for the IPO application of a public limited company, which reflected gross negligence or lack of due diligence in examining or reviewing material information (due diligence) of the company to be IPOed. The SEC found negligence in examining the completeness of the licenses of personnel in the core business of the company to be IPOed, including failing to observe and advise the company on improving its management structure to be appropriate before submitting the application, especially the governance mechanism of the core subsidiary of the company to be IPOed, which still lacked efficiency and effectiveness.
The above-mentioned deficiencies indicate the serious failure of the supervisor to perform their duties in accordance with the standards and ethics that a professional should perform as required by law, as well as the failure of the system in supervising the performance of the supervisor of Capital One, which failed to control the performance of the financial advisory service in accordance with the standards and ethics of the professional practice.
The SEC has therefore ordered a suspension of the approval to be a financial advisor to Capital One for 1 year, including the suspension of the operational controller, Mr. Piya, for the remaining period of the approval, and has set a period for considering the next application for approval after the 1-year period has elapsed from June 20, 2025.
Furthermore, financial advisors play an important role in selecting and screening the quality of companies to be listed on the Stock Exchange of Thailand, ensuring that the company discloses complete, correct and sufficient information for investment decisions. The work of financial advisors is of great importance to investors and stakeholders at large. Therefore, financial advisors must perform their duties in accordance with the standards of professional practice and maintain professional ethics.