Start of ASEAN bourse link pushed back to June next year

SOUTHEAST ASIAN bourses have delayed the implementation of an inter-regional trading link, with the Philippines -- originally set to be one of the pioneers -- unsure of when its participation would start.
The ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) Exchanges, in a statement, said the scheme would now get
underway in June 2012 with Bursa Malaysia and the Singapore Stock Exchange as the first participants. Thailand will follow in August.


The plan was to have been implemented in the first quarter of next year with the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE), Stock Exchange of Thailand, and the Malaysian and Singapore bourses comprising the initial tie-up.


"We’re volunteering to be turned on at a much later date," PSE President and CEO Hans B. Sicat said on Friday, citing technology and thin trading volumes as reasons.


"The linkage project itself, the physical infrastructure, is still undergoing its own analysis,’ Mr. Sicat said.


"I think what will be decided in the future meeting is to make sure that [the link] turns on correctly and maybe find out in the next ASEAN meeting in December which countries get turned on first," he added.


No reason for the scheduling update was given by the ASEAN Exchanges. Bursa Malaysia CEO Tajuddin Atan, in the statement, noted that "The three bourses that will participate in the first stage of the ASEAN Trading Link represent approximately 70% of the market capitalization of the seven-member collaboration, thus offering substantial investment opportunities for investors".


Aside from the Philippine, Malaysian, Thai and Singaporean bourses, the planned trading link will also include the Indonesia Stock Exchange and Vietnam’s Hanoi and HoChiMinh exchanges.

Comments