Asean Exchanges, a regional collaboration of bourses including the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE), on Friday vowed to boost efforts to spotlight Asean as one asset class amid the backdrop of increasingly complex global financial markets.

As the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) move toward the creation of a single economic community by 2015, the members of Asean Exchanges have likewise pursued parallel capital market initiatives since 2011. Asean Exchanges is a collaboration of seven exchanges from Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. In a statement from Singapore Friday, Asean Exchanges said it had convened the 21st Asean Exchanges' chief executive officers' meeting to discuss the next collaborative action steps to market and promote Asean as one asset class. Speaking on behalf of Asean Exchanges, Magnus Bocker, CEO of Singapore Exchange, said: "The collaborative action among the Asean Exchanges has been a vital force in moving things forward to achieve our goals and this is most evident in the significant progress we have made over a relatively short period of time." Each member has likewise embarked on its own in-market engaging activities with the market players to create greater visibility of Asean products to investors, Bocker said.

This collaboration aims to promote the growth of the Asean capital market by driving cross-border collaboration, streamlining access to Asean, creating Asean-centric products and implementing targeted promotional initiatives. The goal is to bring more Asean investment opportunities to more people as well as enhance liquidity among members of the collaboration. Aside from Bocker, Asean Exchanges' CEOs are Dato' Tajuddin Atan of Bursa Malaysia Berhad, Phan Thi Tuong Tam of Hochiminh Stock Exchange, Tran Van Dzung of Hanoi Stock Exchange, Ito Warsito of Indonesia Stock Exchange, Hans Sicat of PSE and Kesara Manchusree of the Stock Exchange of Thailand.

In May 2014, three new Asean indices with FTSE were introduced, bringing more Asean tradable opportunities for investors and enhancing liquidity among the exchanges. Other key initiatives include the "Asean Stars" and the "Invest Asean" retail roadshow to profile the companies listed on the seven exchanges in Asean to retail investors. Through the Asean Exchanges website www.aseanexchanges.org, investors can access aggregated Asean market data and analytics, market performance of the seven Asean exchanges individually, broker research reports and FTSE/Asean Indices Weekly Report.

By Doris C. Dumlao

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