DICA licences not enough to allow futures trading, official says

By Kyaw Phone Kyaw   |   Thursday, 09 April 2015

The  Directorate of Investment and Company Administration is registering companies to trade futures online, but it is not responsible for oversight of the business, according to deputy director Daw Nilar Mu.

A number of companies have set up futures brokerages in Myanmar. They allow clients to trade through online platforms on international futures markets though some say the legal situation of some of these businesses are unclear and should be more strictly regulated.

Brokerage companies have said they are cleared to run in Myanmar as they have business registration from the Directorate, but Daw Nilar Mu said yesterday that this is not strictly the case.

“Our department only provides permits for a company’s name and then completes registration. If they want to run their business, they must apply for permission from the relevant government organisation,” she said.

In the case of financial services companies, this generally means permission from a body such as the Central Bank of Myanmar or the Securities and Exchange Commission of Myanmar.

The Securities and Exchange Commission of Myanmar is currently preparing policies and reviewing applicants for the planned Yangon Stock Exchange, which is to launch later this year. Senior commission members could not be reached for comment yesterday.

Businesses involved in online futures trading say they have permission to operate through their Directorate of Investment and Company Administration licences.

Ma Myat Myat, an assistance business manager with Asian E-Trade Consultant Company, a company allowing Myanmar people to trade on the New Zealand futures market, says it has both a business licence from the Directorate of Investment and Company Administration as well as an authorisation letter from New Zealand.

She also said that her firm is not a broker, but merely providing a service for the financial market.

“If someone has K10 million, it is not enough to set up a company. But in our business, it’s enough to invest,” she said. “If clients are able to control their desire, they might profit by K200,000 or K300,000 a day – but it’s not a sure thing.”

Ma Myat Myat said that some of her clients have lost all of their deposit money, as much as US$10,000.

“Some of our clients power off their phone or switch to silent mode, so we can’t tell them market information. At that moment, they lose,” she said. “But we also provide avenues to recover money. It is an advantage of our business.”

She also declined to reveal how many customers she has.
 @kyawphonekyaw