This year is a turning point for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) as member-countries form a unified economy, the Asean Economic Community (AEC).
Under AEC 2015 or “One Asean,” the region commits to the free flow not just of merchandise goods but of services, capital and investments.
In line with the AEC objectives, seven bourses in six Asean countries formed in 2011 the Asean Exchanges, a regional collaboration to promote Asean as one asset class. The members are the stock exchanges from Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam’s two bourses.
By 2012, this regional collaboration has put in place the Asean Trading Link to connect the bourses, paving the way for what were envisioned to be streamlined, cost-effective post-trade procedures for cross-border transaction conducted through the Asean Trading Link. More than 3,600 companies are listed on these exchanges, including some of the biggest and most dynamic companies in the world, encompassing various sectors such as banking and finance, energy, telecommunications, commodities and manufacturing.
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The Asean Link, however, involves only three stock exchanges in the region to date: The Stock Exchange of Thailand, Bursa Malaysia and the Singapore Exchange. The Philippine Stock Exchange, the Indonesia Stock Exchange as well as the two equity markets of Vietnam — Hanoi Stock Exchange and Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange—have yet to join the trading link.
In the case of the PSE, the local bourse wants to be eventually part of this cross-border link but does not yet find it too compelling to join this regional trading platform at this time.
