JP Morgan Thailand, an investment bank, aims to become a leader in derivative warrant (DW) products by this year-end through DW issuance with foreign underlying assets.
The bank is the 15th DW issuer in Thailand's capital market, launching sales last November.
Chayotid Kridakon, senior country officer at JP Morgan Thailand, said the company has issued 104 DWs and targets becoming the largest DW issuer in the domestic capital market. It expects to list at least 400 DWs on the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET).
ML Chayotid said the company plans to issue foreign index and foreign single stock DWs soon and is in the process of working with market regulators to list DWs with foreign underlying assets.
The process is expected to be concluded in the third quarter, he said.
SET president Pakorn Peetathawatchai said DW is one of three investment products in addition to depository receipts and exchange-traded funds that help facilitate connectivity with foreign investors, driving Thailand to become a capital market gateway in Asean.
DW products were introduced to the Thai market in 2009, with current daily trading volume growing to around 5-8% of the SET's trading volume. Retail investors and institutional investors contribute an even split of DW's trading volume.
"The DW market in Thailand is in the beginning stage and has high potential to grow as the value of global DW markets are larger," said Mr Pakorn.
Hong Kong is one of the most active DW markets in the world and JP Morgan is the largest issuer in terms of volatility sales with an outstanding exposure of greater than US$4 million (127 million baht). JP Morgan contributes to around 20-30% of the DW market in Hong Kong and has issued 5,000 DWs over the past five years, covering more than 180 underlying stocks.