The SEC imposed administrative sanctions on six investment consultants by (1) suspending five investment analysts/consultants – Napasorn Rachpiboon of Asia Plus Plc., Premruthai Rinnasak of Kasikorn Securities Plc., Tanapa Rangsing of KT ZMICO Securities Co., Ltd., Teerapon Yamma and Pitipong Panteeranurak of GT Wealth Management Co., Ltd., effective from October 12, 2012 and (2) publicly reprimanding investment consultant Nitipong Choosompop for his inappropriate behaviors.
On Napasorn case, her employer reported a complaint lodged by a client against Napasorn’s unauthorized trading of securities and derivatives. The SEC’s further probe on the conversation records between the client and Napasorn indicated that the client may have entrusted Napasorn to make decisions on securities and derivatives trading for the client whose trading orders were unclear, and that Napasorn had made trading decisions and informed the client afterward.
The Premruthai case was in response to a complaint lodged by a client. The SEC looked into the conversation records between Premruthai and the client and found that she was entrusted to make derivatives trading decisions for the client from January to June 14, 2011. Premruthai, however, did so on June 15, 2011 without the client’s authorization and she admitted to such unauthorized trading.
The acts of Napasorn and Premruthai were in violation of Clause 20(2) of the Notification of the Capital Market Supervisory Board No. TorLorThor. 3/2555 Re: Approval for Personnel of Business Operator to Perform Duty of Analyzing Investment and Giving Investment Advice dated January 18, 2012.
The SEC therefore suspended Napasorn and Premruthai from performing duties of investment consultant for six months. Taking into account that Premruthai has already been suspended by her employer for two months, the SEC considered her six-month suspension term remains for another four months.
The Tanapa case started from a lead and the SEC’s further probe revealed that she interfered with a client’s asset by transferring cash into the client’s account. Tanapa admitted that she had done so to take responsibility for the client’s investment loss due to her advice. Tanapa also failed to record her giving of investment advice and accepting of securities trading orders from many of her clients. Tanapa admitted that the unrecorded orders were taken via mobile phone.
The acts of Tanapa were in violation of Clause 20(2) and (3) of the Notification of the Capital Market Supervisory Board No. TorLorThor. 3/2555 Re: Approval for Personnel of Business Operator to Perform Duty of Analyzing Investment and Giving Investment Advice dated January 18, 2012.
The SEC therefore suspended Tanapa from performing duties of investment consultant for three months. Taking into account that her employer has already imposed a three-month suspension on Tanapa, the SEC considered that she has already served the SEC suspension term.
On Teerapon and Pitipong cases, the SEC found that they both failed to record their clients’ derivatives trading orders frequently. Teerapon admitted that the unrecorded orders were taken via mobile phone and WhatsApp, while Pitipong admitted that he had accepted his client’s trading orders via mobile phone because it was inconvenient for the client to contact via fixed line.
On Nitipong case, the SEC found that he had failed to record some of his client’s derivatives trading orders. Nitipong admitted that some of the unrecorded trading orders were taken via mobile phone and claimed that others were also the client’s orders but he failed to show evidence of records of such trading orders.
The acts of Teerapon, Pitipong and Nitipong were in violation of Clause 20(3) of the Notification of the Capital Market Supervisory Board No. TorLorThor. 3/2555 Re: Approval for Personnel of Business Operator to Perform Duty of Analyzing Investment and Giving Investment Advice dated January 18, 2012.
The SEC therefore suspended Teerapon and Pitipong from performing duties of investment analyst and investment consultant for one month and publicly reprimanded Nitipong for his inappropriate behaviors in performing duties as investment consultant and keeps such reprimand record for future reference if a breach of duty is repeated.-KP-