On May 15, 2021, Decree No. 21/2021/ND-CP of the Government of Vietnam dated March 19, 2021, guiding the implementation of the Civil Code of 2015 on security for performance of obligations (Decree 21) will come into effect.

Thailand has made significant changes to its statutory interest rate framework for the first time in almost a century. Since 1925, the statutory interest rate codified in Thailand’s Civil and Commercial Code (the CCC) has remained at 7.5% per year. But with Covid-19 having an unprecedented impact on the Thai economy, the Thai Government, via emergency decree, has reduced the statutory rate. While the decree is largely aimed at providing relief to hard-hit SMEs and individual debtors, the amendments have broader implications for doing business in Thailand. Main Changes The new interest rate revisions are contained within the Emergency Decree Amending the Civil and Commercial Code B.E. 2564 (2021) (the Emergency Decree), which was published in the Government Gazette on April 10, 2021 and came into effect on April 11, 2021. The Emergency Decree amends Sections 7 and 224 of the CCC, which stated the previous statutory interest rate of 7.5% per year. The Emergency Decree makes three major changes. The first involves a reduction of the statutory interest rate from 7.5% per year to 3% per year in Section 7. The new 3% annual rate is subject to review every three years by the Ministry of Finance. The interest rate is subject to further change later by a royal decree. The second change concerns money debts under Section 224 of the CCC. The previous version of Section 224 stated, among other things, that a money debt based on a default bears interest of 7.5% per year. Under the Emergency Decree, the new actual statutory default interest rate is the statutory interest rate stated in Section 7 with an additional rate of 2% per year. The result is a 5% annual statutory default interest rate. Since the statutory default interest rate is based in part on the Section 7

The Bank of Thailand recently issued policy guidelines on how stablecoins—fiat-backed nonvolatile cryptocurrencies—are to be regulated. This paves the way for baht-backed stablecoins, similar to China’s digital Yuan, to be developed in the jursidiction.

On March 3, 2021, two new types of license became available to operators of securities businesses in Thailand, following the enactment of an amendment to the ministerial regulation regarding securities business licensing in Thailand, which was announced by the Ministry of Finance four months prior. While existing license types are broader, and subject to high-level conditions and compliance levels, the two new licenses are more specific and may be more suitable and cost-effective for operators whose activities are limited to a narrower scope of securities business. The details of the two new license types—the Type E Securities Business License and the Private Fund Management License—are as follows: Type E Securities Business License A Type E Securities Business License covers the following business activities: Equity brokerage Equity dealing Equity underwriting Investment advisory service Securities borrowing and lending Operators eligible to apply for a Type E License include: securities companies; commercial banks; life insurance companies; special-purpose financial institutions; and, Thai incorporated companies. Private Fund Management License Previously, business operators who only intended to conduct private fund management business had to apply for a Type C license—a broad category of license covering mutual fund management, private fund management, brokerage for investment units or trust certificates, and so on. The new Private Fund Management License provides a more targeted alternative to the Type C license, which is subject to higher license fees and more comprehensive compliance requirements. New applicants for a securities business license may now specify one of the additional license types when applying to the Ministry of Finance through the SEC. Holders of existing securities business licenses can also apply to change to one of the new license types.