Financial Sector Holds 23 Percent of Thai Corporate Equity (2026)
In short
Financial and insurance companies hold 23.3 percent of all corporate equity registered in Thailand, as of 17 July 2026. That is 12.51 trillion baht of the nation's 53.67 trillion baht total. Those firms are only 35,567 of the 1,986,489 companies with a classified industry section, a 1.8 percent slice. The average financial company carries 486.4 million baht of equity, eleven times the 42.5 million baht average across every sector. That single sector holds more equity than agriculture, education, human health and twelve smaller sections combined.
How much of Thailand's equity sits in finance?
Twenty three point three percent. That is the financial and insurance sector's share of the 53.67 trillion baht in aggregate book equity reported by Thailand's classified companies, as of 17 July 2026 (DBD, 2026). The sector holds 12.51 trillion baht of that equity on its own. Only wholesale and retail trade ranks higher, at 28.5 percent of the total. Manufacturing trails in third place, at 20.8 percent. Yet financial and insurance firms make up just 35,567 of the 1,986,489 classified companies, a 1.8 percent slice of the count. A small set of banks, insurers, securities firms and holding companies is sitting on a disproportionate share of the country's capital base.
Share of national corporate equity by industry section
- Wholesale and retail trade29
- Financial and insurance23
- Manufacturing21
- Real estate7
- Construction4
- Information and communication3
- Professional, scientific and technical3
- Electricity and gas2
- Transportation and storage2
- Rest of Thailand (12 sections)7
Figures in percent of total equity.
Financial and insurance ranks second only to wholesale and retail trade, despite having a fraction of the companies.
Corporate equity by industry section
| Industry section | Companies with equity data | Total equity (THB billion) | Share of national equity |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wholesale and retail trade | 424,646 | 15,305.6 | 28.52% |
| Financial and insurance | 25,720 | 12,509.8 | 23.31% |
| Manufacturing | 148,775 | 11,178.0 | 20.83% |
| Real estate | 108,572 | 3,580.4 | 6.67% |
| Construction | 162,154 | 2,107.6 | 3.93% |
| Information and communication | 38,810 | 1,389.4 | 2.59% |
| Professional, scientific and technical | 99,165 | 1,375.5 | 2.56% |
| Electricity and gas | 6,211 | 1,252.4 | 2.33% |
| Transportation and storage | 51,510 | 1,226.1 | 2.28% |
| Administrative and support | 68,347 | 988.6 | 1.84% |
| Mining and quarrying | 3,579 | 795.8 | 1.48% |
| Accommodation and food service | 59,330 | 673.9 | 1.26% |
| Human health and social work | 13,183 | 525.8 | 0.98% |
| Agriculture, forestry and fishing | 12,067 | 459.9 | 0.86% |
| Water and waste | 3,528 | 124.0 | 0.23% |
| Education | 10,012 | 67.3 | 0.13% |
| Arts and entertainment | 13,177 | 61.1 | 0.11% |
| Other services | 13,933 | 46.6 | 0.09% |
| Public administration | 17 | 0.1 | 0.00% |
| Extraterritorial organizations | 3 | 0.0 | 0.00% |
| Households | 11 | 0.0 | 0.00% |
Total equity estimate and company count by section, ranked highest to lowest, as of 17 Jul 2026.
Why this matters
Company counts make Thailand's economy look like a trading and manufacturing story. Wholesale and retail trade alone claims 715,976 registered companies, more than a third of every classified firm in the country. Equity tells a different story. A retailer needs relatively little capital to open its doors, while a bank or insurer is required by regulation to hold large reserves against the risk it carries. That structural difference is why 35,567 financial and insurance companies can match the combined equity of fifteen other sections, including agriculture, education and human health, sections that together employ and register far more firms. For anyone assessing where financial risk and financial capacity actually concentrate in Thailand, headline company counts by sector are the wrong lens. Equity concentration is the right one, and it points squarely at finance.
Definitions
- Book equity
- Total assets minus total liabilities as reported on a company's filed balance sheet, also called shareholders funds.
- Companies with data
- The count of companies in a section whose most recent filed financial statement includes a usable equity figure.
- Aggregate equity
- Average equity per company in a section multiplied by the number of companies with data in that section, summed across sections to build a national total.
- Classified industry section
- One of the 21 lettered ISIC sections the Department of Business Development assigns to a registered company.
Assumptions
- Section equity totals are estimated as average equity per company multiplied by the count of companies with data, not summed line by line from every individual filing.
- Group and holding company structures can inflate a parent company's book equity relative to its operating subsidiaries, a pattern common inside financial and insurance groups.
- Only companies with a filed financial statement, a classified industry section and a usable equity figure are counted. Unclassified or non filing companies are excluded from both the numerator and denominator.
Methodology
Total equity per industry section is estimated by multiplying each section's average book equity per reporting company by its count of companies with usable equity data, both drawn from the Department of Business Development registry as of 17 July 2026. The 21 section totals are summed to a national aggregate of 53.67 trillion baht. Only companies with a filed financial statement, a classified industry section and a positive equity figure are included. This is an aggregate estimate, not a line by line sum of every filing.
How we verified this
- Summed average equity per company times companies with data across all 21 classified sections: 53,668,025,666,794 baht, about 53.67 trillion, matching the brief's verified total.
- Financial and insurance equity of 12,509,772,638,901 baht divided by the 53,668,025,666,794 baht total equals 23.31 percent, rounded to 23.3 percent.
- Financial and insurance entity count of 35,567 divided by the 1,986,489 companies with a classified industry section equals 1.79 percent, confirming the under 2 percent claim.
- Summed the 15 smallest sections by equity, including agriculture, education and human health, to 7,597,237,611,678 baht, less than the 12,509,772,638,901 baht held by financial and insurance alone.
- Average equity per financial and insurance company of 486,383,073 baht divided by the economy wide average of 42,500,911 baht equals an 11.4 times multiple.
References
- Department of Business Development. (2026). Registered juristic persons and financial statement aggregates. Ministry of Commerce, Thailand. https://www.dbd.go.th/
- OECD. (2025). The public equity market. In OECD Capital Market Review of Thailand. https://www.oecd.org/en/publications/oecd-capital-market-review-of-thailand-2025_0a975590-en/full-report/the-public-equity-market_40efbfd8.html
Frequently asked questions
How much of Thailand's corporate equity does the financial and insurance sector hold?
23.3 percent, or 12.51 trillion baht of the 53.67 trillion baht in aggregate equity reported across all classified sections, as of 17 July 2026.
How many financial and insurance companies are there in Thailand?
35,567 companies carry a financial and insurance classification, of which 25,720 have filed the financial data used in this equity estimate.
Is financial and insurance the largest sector by equity?
No. Wholesale and retail trade holds slightly more, 28.5 percent. Financial and insurance ranks second, ahead of manufacturing at 20.8 percent.
Why does such a small sector hold so much equity?
Banks, insurers and holding companies carry large balance sheets by regulatory design. The average financial company holds 486.4 million baht of equity, eleven times the economy wide average of 42.5 million baht.
Cite this page
Chatpong L. (2026). Financial Sector Holds 23 Percent of Thai Corporate Equity (2026). Max Data Insights. https://maxdatathailand.com/insights/financial-sector-holds-a-quarter-of-thai-corporate-equity-2026
Data & corrections
Download the data (CSV)Spot something off, or want to ask about the data? Email insights@maxsolutions.co.th. We publish corrections.
Written by
Chatpong L.Founder, Max Data, Max Solutions Co., Ltd.
Chatpong L. leads Max Data, a company-intelligence platform built on Thailand's official business registry. He writes about the structure of the Thai economy using primary registry data. His work covers company formation, industry concentration, and regional business activity.
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This page reports company-level and aggregate statistics only. It names no individuals and makes no claims about any person. Figures are provided for information and may be revised as source data updates.