The Stock Exchange of Thailand must embrace change or risk being left behind by investors in the global competition for capital, said president Patareeya Benjapolchai.
Mrs Patareeya, speaking on Monday on her final day as SET president, said opportunity loss was a major risk for the Thai capital market the next several years.
''The market cannot be driven by domestic investors. If we don't do anything, the SET will be marginalised and fail to be attractive for long-term investors,'' she said.
New listings have been few and far between over the past several years, with the few entries made to the market relatively small firms that pass beneath the radar of international investment funds.
Mrs Patareeya noted that of the more than 500 companies listed on the Thai market, only about 25 have the market capitalisation and trading liquidity to be included in the MSCI indices, widely used by institutional investors in allocating capital across different markets.
''We are looking for different opportunities for the SET to compete long-term. Changing the organisation to a public company and listing itself is one choice. Another is the Asean linkage programme, where large-cap stocks from markets across the region are brought together under a single board,'' she said.
The past four years have been eventful ones for the Thai economy and SET, including the military coup and imposition of capital controls in 2006, the US sub-prime crisis in 2008 and the red-shirt rallies and Bangkok riots last month.
The SET headquarters itself saw its library on the first floor torched by arsonists during the May riots, forcing staff to relocate to a backup site. Mrs Patareeya marked the end of her 35-year career with the exchange at the Maruey Library branch at the Esplanade mall.
She credited the strong teamwork within the SET for helping the exchange survive successive crises, including the riots last month.
''We considered whether to open trade in mid-May, when the military massed to break up the mob. In the end, we decided to allow trading but with shortened trading hours. The main concern was the security for our staff,'' Mrs Patareeya said.
''On the other hand, we cater to investors around the world, and closing the market altogether would damage confidence.''
The SET allowed shortened trading hours from May 17-19, and closed altogether on May 20 and 21 after the Bank of Thailand declared a bank holiday as a result of the riots. Besides damage to the SET building in Klong Toey, the riots resulted in vast destruction at CentralWorld, Siam Square, Center One and to dozens of bank branches and public buildings.
''I end my career here at the Esplanade mall, and it's quite sad to see many places destroyed due to the political crisis, which has been the greatest negative factor for the Thai market over the past two to three years,'' she said.
''But I hope [the crisis] will be an important lesson for Thai society. We have to learn and work together to solve this problem.''
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