US-Asean Business Council supports Asean
Play
A delegation of leading US financial institutions organised by the US-Asean Business Council offered its support for Asean as a global asset class and regional financial inclusion efforts.
They participated in the annual Asean Finance Ministers Meeting which concluded today.
“The Council deeply values our annual participation in the AFMM, one of Asia's most important regional economic meetings,” said Michael Zink of Citi.
The delegation was led by the Co-Chairs of the Council’s Financial Services Working Group, Michael Zink, CEO of Asean for Citi, Juan Andrade, COO of ACE Overseas General, and Marc Mealy, Vice President for Policy of the Council.
“Not only is the AFMM a leader in ensuring the successful launch of the Asean Economic Community (AEC) by 2015, it also plays a key role shaping the evolution of Asia-Pacific’s regional financial architecture,” Zink added.
“US business remains committed to supporting the financial integration efforts of Asean through financial services related initiatives that strengthen regional connectivity and financial inclusion efforts,” said Juan Andrade of ACE. “These initiatives can help address the development gaps faced by Asean's LDC's and enhance the growth benefits they can accrue from participating in the AEC. The Council is committed to supporting efforts to build financial literacy in Asean and expand the reach of financial services.”
“The efforts of the Finance Ministers have supported Asean's outstanding performance in global Initial Public Offerings (IPO's), M&A activity and bond market growth during a period of global economic uncertainty and financial regulatory change,” said Marc Mealy of the Council. “As Asean continues to become more of a global asset class, we encourage the Ministers to continuing their regional financial integration and capital markets development efforts, with a focus on putting in place policies, standards and rules to enhance the intermediation of both foreign capital inflows and domestic investors into productive investments to sustain broad based economic growth. “
In addition to participating in the annual dialogue with the 10 Asean finance ministers, the delegation also met separately with Brunei Minister II for Finance Pehin Dato Rahman, Bank Negara Malaysia Governor Tan Sri Dato’ Sri Dr. Zeti Akhtar Aziz, U.S. Treasury Assistant Secretary for International Finance Charles Collyns, Philippine Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima, and US Ambassador to Brunei Daniel Shields.
Companies participating in the delegation included ACE, Citi, GE, MasterCard, Moody’s, PayPal, S&P, State Street, and Visa.
