SECC unveils new CIS-related licenses

KT/Chor Sokunthea

The Securities Exchange Commission of Cambodia (SECC), the regulator of the local capital market, issued a statement Monday announcing a raft of new licenses related to collective investment schemes that are now available to the public.

Starting this week, Cambodians can apply for a license to act as a fund management company, distribution company, fund administrator, fund management representative, crowdfunding representative, fund selling representative and trustee.

“Starting now, people can submit their application with SECC to obtain any of these licenses,” the announcement said.

Soleil Lamun, director of the Listing and Disclosure Department at the Cambodia Securities Exchange (CSX), told Khmer Times that all the licenses are related to collective investment schemes.

A collective investment scheme, or CSI, consists of a pool of funds, generally collected from individuals, which is managed by a professional investment team and put into different businesses. The investment team acts on behalf of the individual investors, who may have no investment skills or lack the time to manage their own investments, Mr Lamun explained.

CISs have the advantage of diversifying investments for the unit-holders and usually incur lower investment fees than if the investors were managing the funds individually, he said.

“CISs are directly related to the stock market since they will have to list in CSX. They constitute another type of product that widens our offer at CSX and give investors more investment options,” he said, adding that the new products give more visibility to the local securities market.

Khmer Times
May Kunmakara