Annual Report 2017

37 2.2 Promotingmutual funds and provident funds catering to Thailand’s aging society SET realizes the importance of Thais having financial stability as the nation moves towards the aging society. Consequently, SET encourages company employees to invest through Employee’s Choice, a provident fund plan tailored for them. Such investment can build financial security based on one’s salary to have happy retirement finally. At the end of 2017, the proportion of companies with an Employee’s Choice scheme increased to 45 percent of all companies having provident fund plan. SET has campaigned to make Thais aware of the importance of financial planning for a happy retirement with the “Happy Money, Happy Retirement” project under the slogan “Happy retirement can be a reality.” Proactive activities include roadshows to educate employees in various organizations including government offices, state enterprises, and private sector (businesses) so that they understand the importance and the how-to of financial and investment planning. In 2017, over 700,000 employees in 196 organizations gained this knowledge. At the same time, the project’s learning media reached 3.3 million people among the target groups. In addition, SET has also worked with the Thai Life Assurance Association to promote the unit linked insurance plan (life insurance with investment), as well as to provide capital market education to life insurance agents so they better understand the capital market and innovations and can suitably present specific capital market products to their clients. In the same year, SET in cooperation with its partners in the mutual fund industry launched the innovative FundConnext , a technology-enabled fund service platform to process buying and selling of mutual fund orders, enabling the public to access and invest in mutual funds conveniently and efficiently. At the same time, FundConnext is also a centralized system that allows mutual fund operators to develop their businesses quickly and flexibly. In addition, Settrade Streaming for Fund application was also launched by Settrade.com Co., Ltd. to facilitate securities companies to provide services for investors who can now send their own fund orders via mobile phone.