MANILA, Philippines – Members of the ASEAN Capital Markets Forum (ACMF) including the Philippines have agreed to intensify efforts to promote ASEAN asset classes and promote corporate governance and other initiatives to support the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC).
This was the result of the ACMF’s 25th meeting, hosted by the Indonesia Financial Services Authority (Otoritas Jasa Keuangan) in Jakarta early this month.
During the meeting, the ACMF also agreed to introduce an annual ASEAN Capital Market Conference as a platform to discuss opportunities in ASEAN capital markets and to showcase ASEAN asset classes.
The inaugural conference will be conducted in the first half of 2017.
The members of ACMF also noted the progress of implementation of the ACMF Action Plan 2016 to 2020 that will support the objectives of the AEC.
A key initiative in the Action Plan is to foster greater mobility of professionals within the region by establishing a working group on professional mobility to introduce rules to facilitate cross-border movement of capital market professionals on a phased basis.
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The ACMF also acknowledged the progress of the holistic review of the ASEAN Corporate Governance Scorecard and assessment methodology, which is being spearheaded by the Philippines’ Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Overall, the members reiterated the importance of corporate governance as a key component of the ACMF’s efforts in promoting the investability of ASEAN public-listed companies.
Ranjit Ajit Singh, chair of the ACMF, said discussions with international dialogue partners and industry participants have shown that there is now a confluence of opportunities to promote investment in ASEAN asset classes through the establishment of ASEAN-specific indexes, and creation of an extensive range of investable ASEAN capital market products.
“It is imperative that major ASEAN investors lead the way by creating mandates for investing in ASEAN asset classes,” Singh said.
The SEC, for its part, continues to actively engage with its ASEAN peers in progressing the ASEAN capital markets.
With the cooperation of other capital market regulators which form part of the ACMF, SEC chairperson Teresita Herbosa said the commission seeks to drive the Philippine capital market to rise to global standards.
“And in doing so, the SEC hopes to further improve the country’s investment opportunities for the global investors,” she said.
