Changes to insurance laws in Thailand will make it easier for foreign insurers to increase ownership of companies there, according to DLA Piper.

“This seems to be in keeping with a general trend towards the Thai insurance sector becoming more open to foreign participation,” the law firm says in an update.

Under the Life and Non-Life Insurance Acts introduced earlier this month, the minimum proportion of Thai ownership is 75%. As before, this can be relaxed to 51% by regulators.

Permission for majority foreign ownership could previously be granted only when a domestic insurer was in a condition that “may cause damage to the insured or to the public”.

Now this can be approved to lift the strength of an insurer or the soundness of insurance business. “This presents a considerably broader scope for such permission to be requested and granted,” DLA Piper says.