Thailand’s brokerage industry is under sustained pressure from declining trading volumes, margin compression, rising operating costs, and shifting investor behavior, within a broader capital-market environment characterized by weakened confidence and a shallow issuer pipeline. Many mid-sized and smaller brokers face constraints in investing at the scale required to remain competitive.

This study supports a coordinated consolidation agenda, noting that industry fragmentation within a finite profit pool has constrained reinvestment. While consolidation can strengthen balance sheets and operational efficiency, the priority is not fewer brokers, but higher-quality brokers. Market restructuring should preserve specialized and digital players, aiming for an efficient structure indicatively in the range of 12–17 brokers, while avoiding excessive concentration.

The paper advocates a dual-track strategy combining top-down regulatory reform and bottom-up industry adaptation. The transformation roadmap is organized around six strategic moves designed to create a smaller but more capable brokerage ecosystem operating within a deeper, more resilient, and trusted capital market by 2030:

1. Shift regulator mindset: Transition from a merit-based gatekeeper model to a principles-based, developmental and risk-based supervisory approach.
2. Strengthen local private capital markets: Revitalize the PE/VC ecosystem through legal, structural, and tax reforms to improve the issuer pipeline.
3. Shape brokerage market for efficiency: Encourage guided consolidation to reduce fragmentation while enabling niche and digital players to coexist.
4. Develop shared infrastructure: Build common digital platforms (e.g., securities borrowing and lending) to enhance efficiency and reduce costs.
5. Re-build trust in the market: Strengthen enforcement, gatekeeper accountability, whistleblower protection, and investor protection frameworks.
6. Launch nation-wide financial literacy initiative: Establish coordinated governance and digital education platforms to improve retail investor participation and informed decision-making.