Government Debt Securities

There are four types of government debt securities in Thailand: (i) Treasury bills; (ii) Government bonds; (iii) Bank of Thailand (BoT) bonds; and (iv) State Owned Enterprise (SOE) bonds.

Treasury bills are short-term debt instruments (maturity less than 1 year) while the others are medium- to long-term bonds. Government bonds are issued by the Ministry of Finance (MoF), and are classified into three types: (i) investment bonds; (ii) loan bonds; and (iii) savings bonds. BoT bonds are issued by the central bank and SOE bonds are issued by government-owned corporations. Some SOE bonds are guaranteed by the MoF.

Government bonds, BoT bonds, and T-bills are issued by competitive price auctions organized by the central bank. In 2002, non-competitive bids were also made available but only for small investors with bids ranging from THB4 million to THB40 million.

SOE bonds are issued by Dutch auction, whereby the issue is awarded to the bidders with the lowest funding cost offer. The auctions are managed by the Public Debt Management Office (PDMO) under the MoF.

Data on total outstanding government bonds is available at the Asia Bond Indicators section of this website.


Corporate Bonds

Corporate bond issuance began in 1992. Before a company issues bonds, it must receive approval from the Securities and Exchange Commission. The approval is by issuer, so an issuer can offer several bonds at one time.

Data on total outstanding corporate bonds is available at the Asia Bond Indicators section of this website.


Structured Notes and Securitization Bonds

Securitization started developing in Thailand during 1993–1998. The Securities and Exchange Act, the Royal Enactment on Special Purpose Juristic Persons for Securitisation B.E. 2520 (Securitisation Act), the BoT Notification 122-2549 and the SEC Notification 4/2546 are the major regulations governing the securitization process.

As of January 2007, there were 21 securitization bonds issued and traded in the secondary market, representing about 1.3% of the bond market. The types of securitization debt already issued include asset-backed securities, credit card or personal loan receivables, deposit receipts, and future cash flows.