Asean bourses takes in new member

FIVE ASEAN EXCHANGES—BURSA Malaysia, the Indonesia Stock Exchange, the Philippine Stock Exchange, Singapore Exchange Limited (SGX) and the Stock Exchange of Thailand—have entered into an Accession Agreement with the Hochiminh Stock Exchange.

The agreement, which was reached during the 9th Asean Exchanges CEOs Meeting yesterday in Kuala Lumpur, will include the Hochiminh bourse in the regional pact that will explore cross-border trading among Asean capital markets via an electronic gateway.

This followed a memorandum of understanding signed in Bangkok by the original five exchanges in February this year. The regional cooperation, which is considering an electronic link among participating markets via a single access point, aims to assist the Asean region to upgrade its capital markets in order to stay competitive.

It also aims to establish an Asean Bulletin Board that will display market data of participating exchanges and enable each exchange to feature stocks from its respective market.

According to Bursa Malaysia’s chief executive officer, Dato’ Yusli Mohamed Yusoff, the inclusion of the Hochiminh Stock Exchange in the regional alliance further affirms the prospect and viability of this initiative. –Philippine Daily Inquirer