Kuala Lumpur, 15 August 2019 – Experts in both the public and private sectors all agreed that ASEAN stands to be at the forefront of the development of financial technology (Fintech) by making financial services and financing available to both the 53% of unbanked population and MSMEs in ASEAN, drawing opportunity from ASEAN’s above global average internet penetration rate of 63% and mobile connectivity at 132%.

However, there are regional and domestic gaps that hinder the growth of Fintech that must be addressed to yield maximum benefits for the peoples of ASEAN. These include upscaling human capital, enhancing broadband infrastructure at the home front, while harmonising policies to create a seamless ASEAN-wide digital economy.

These were some of the observations made during the first of the Smart Showcase Series organised by CIMB ASEAN Research Institute (CARI), which focused on the future of Fintech within ASEAN, supported by ASEAN-BAC Malaysia and the ASEAN Business Club.

The one-day conference presented over 30 speakers from Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines and Japan showcasing the latest Fintech covering Bank-tech, Insurtech, RegTech, Wealth Tech, Lending Tech, Equity and Peer-to-Peer (P2P) Crowdfunding and blockchain technologies. The Fintech Smart Showcase Series also saw ASEAN-wide initiatives such as the APIX (Application Programming Interface Exchange) presented by Chief Fintech Officer of Monetary Authority of Singapore, Sopnendu Mohanty, as well as the ASEAN Regional Digital Trade Connectivity presented by Secretary-General of the Thai Bankers Association, Khun Kobsak Duangdee.

Tan Sri Munir Majid, Chairman of CARI, in his introductory remarks, highlighted that according to the Asian Development Bank, Fintech solutions could accelerate financial inclusion and boost GDP growth by 2-3% in markets such as Indonesia and the Philippines, and 6% in countries like Cambodia. For a population earning less than US$2 a day, this would translate to a 10% increased income for countries such as Indonesia and the Philippines, and a 30% in Cambodia, respectively¹.

“Fintech will be able to mitigate the three main problems faced by MSMEs and the poorest unbanked households, namely the payment and transfer gap, the savings gap, and the credit gap. The reality is, however, that ASEAN is still at the nascent stage of development in the digital economy where a few countries are beginning to set up regulatory sandbox to pilot test Fintech ideas. ASEAN needs to catch up, not just in terms of technology, but also realising that unless it creates a region-wide ecosystem, the benefits would be less impactful,” said Tan Sri Munir who is also a member of the Economic Action Council chaired by Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir.

The opening keynote speech was given by Datuk Syed Zaid Albar, Chairman of the Securities Commission of Malaysia. He noted that from 2015 to June of this year, Malaysian equity crowdfunding (ECF) and peer-to-peer (P2P) financing platforms have collectively raised RM432 million, thus benefiting over 1,200 MSMEs.

Khun Arin Jira, Chair of ASEAN BAC 2019, highlighted that ASEAN continues to draw investment into the Fintech sector given the region’s large population and projected GDP growth of over 5% from 2019-2023. He echoes the view of Fintech’s importance to the MSMEs as an alternative source of financing.

“Despite its economic importance, statistics show that 33% of MSMEs in ASEAN lack access to loans and line of credit, with these conditions being more acute in the Philippines where 50% of SMEs do not have access to formal loans. Current investment trend offers hope that Fintech could provide alternative access to finance for MSMEs in ASEAN,” said Khun Arin Jira.

In terms of empowering the MSMEs in cross border trade, there are currently efforts led by ASEAN-BAC Thailand to create an end-to-end B2B digital trade platform called National Digital Trade Platform (NDTP) in each country and make them interoperable with each other through the Regional Digital Trade Connectivity (RDTC) initiative. This would also complement the ASEAN Single Window which connects the National Single Window of ASEAN Member States. Currently, there are seven ASEAN countries joining the live operations, except Lao PDR, Myanmar and the Philippines.

“We are proposing an industry-led initiative to fully digitize the supply chain process from end-to-end backed by blockchain technology. Thus, it will enhance transparency and enable the highly secure sharing of information among trading partners. Most importantly, it should be able to help more SMEs participate in the cross border economy through higher efficiency, lower cost and time for international trade transactions, and to increase SME’s access to finance thus increasing their competitiveness,” said Khun Kobsak Duangdee, Secretary-General of Thai Bankers Association and Member of ASEAN-BAC Thailand.

The event also hosted two ASEAN Roundtable Series. The first panel, discussing the opportunities for Fintech in ASEAN involved representatives from Fintech associations from Singapore, Thailand, and the Philippines. The second panel, concerning how ASEAN intends to migrate to a cashless and borderless ePayment ASEAN ecosystem involved speakers from the ASEAN Bankers Association, BigPay, Magpie.IM Inc, and Boost.

In the final session, ambassadors from Thailand, Mexico and France, shared with the audience the progress of Fintech in their respective countries as part of their larger embrace of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

Companies and organisations represented include the Fintech Association of Malaysia (FAOM), Thai Fintech Association, Singapore Fintech Association, Fintech Alliance.Ph, Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), Ata Plus, GAX MD, Asian Development Bank (ADB), the Thai Bankers’ Association, Funding Societies Malaysia, ASEAN Bankers Association, BigPay, Magpie.IM Inc, Axiata Digital eCode (Boost), Tookitaki, Fermion, NTT Data and the ASEAN Secretariat.

The Smart Showcase Series is sponsored by Silverlake with the venue sponsored by Securities Commission of Malaysia.

(From left) Professor Fukunari Kimura, Chief Economist of the Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA), Lydia Ruddy, Director of Communications at ERIA, Tan Sri Dr. Munir Majid, Chairman of CIMB ASEAN Research Institute (CARI) and President of the ASEAN Business Club, Professor Mari Pangestu, former Minister of Trade for Indonesia and Professor of International Economics at the University of Indonesia, Dr. Donald Hanna, Chief Economist of CIMB Group, and Jukhee Hong, Executive Director for CARI, at the ASEAN Roundtable Series entitled “ASEAN Vision 2040: The imperative of collective leadership, ASEAN integration and centrality in uncertain times”. The roundtable discussion was organised by CARI in collaboration with ERIA in Malaysia on 26 July 2019.

Kuala Lumpur, 26 July 2019 – Experts caution ASEAN must make the political commitment to address major external issues confronting ASEAN to ensure ASEAN centrality is not compromised. To achieve that, ASEAN requires enhanced policy capacity, policy coordination and steady institutional change internally; while also requiring coherent ASEAN strategies and engaging regional and global partners in collective leadership.

This heed to caution was made during an ASEAN Roundtable Series organised by CIMB ASEAN Research Institute (CARI) in conjunction with the launch of the ASEAN Vision 2040 report published by the Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA).

Tan Sri Dr. Munir Majid, Chairman of CARI, observed in his opening remarks that Asean cannot continue to keep alluding to past successes, including economic growth to becoming – if it was one economy – the fifth largest economy in the world, and not give enough attention to the huge challenges facing the region today. Asean must feel the earth move under its feet, adjust to it and, most importantly, organize itself to play an effective role in shaping desirable outcomes.

“ASEAN currently finds itself in a changing geoeconomic, geopolitical, and technological landscape since the ASEAN Vision 2020 and the ASEAN Community Vision 2025 were first adopted, and it is of paramount importance to recalibrate a new vision to achieve the goals of a rules-based, people-centred, and sustainable ASEAN,” said Tan Sri Dr. Munir Majid.

The panellists at the roundtable emphasised that ASEAN must take proactive steps in pushing for global multilateralism as an alternative to waning US hegemony, and that ASEAN must deepen dialogue and cooperation with fellow middle powers including Japan, India, and Australia in order to navigate the current great power rivalry. They warned that ASEAN’s traditional policy of non-interference will impede the bloc’s development as a regional leader, while competing interests between the Member States results in a lack of a cohesive voice in global affairs.
Director of Communications at ERIA, Lydia Ruddy who presented on the ASEAN Vision 2040 report findings said that the vision is one in which ASEAN steps boldly forward towards the year 2040 to transform the ASEAN Community and secure its position in the region and globally.

“The ASEAN Community will need to be pro-active with a common diplomatic posture underpinned by the principle of collective leadership; adaptive and innovative, embracing the digital transformation and Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR); resilient and sustainable, adopting new technologies and best-practices; integrated and connected, underpinned by good regulatory practice and governance; inclusive, focused on people empowerment and inclusion; and harnessing new networks for people engagement to build a deep sense of identity. All of this must be supported by a strong and effective ASEAN institutional ecosystem,” explained Lydia.

Prof. Mari Pangestu, former Minister of Trade for Indonesia and currently Professor of International Economics at the University of Indonesia, discussed how the 4IR presents new challenges for ASEAN integration. She opines that as e-commerce and the digital economy increasingly subsume every aspect of commercial and societal transactions, the challenges to ASEAN integration now includes the challenge of creating a digital market. As the trade in traditional goods and services moves online, existing intra-ASEAN commitments (as well as ASEAN free trade agreements) are rolled back unless they are supported by commitments to keep the digital economy open.

“Data flows and online payments are the ‘glue’ that integrates all the other freedoms. Digitisation needs freedom of data flows that allow for seamless communications without regulatory frictions, and thereby create new and innovative services which may occasionally make existing regulatory systems obsolete. Rather than resisting such changes, the path forward means managing tensions within numerous policy disciplines – security, privacy, disruption, competition, taxation, and regulatory agency capacity. Interoperability and standards of technologies and regulations within a country and between countries are essential,” said Prof. Mari.

Professor Fukunari Kimura, Chief Economist of ERIA, believes ASEAN should be proactive to utilise both information technology (IT) including artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics and communication technology (CT) such as the internet and smartphones to further activate existing industries and create new businesses.

He observed that the aggressive utilisation of CT has already started. Costs of getting access to information, making communication, and utilising opportunities of matching have drastically reduced, and he observed the rise of various new businesses including social media, e-commerce, matching in transportation and lodging businesses, e-payments, and fintech. Benefits of internet users must be emphasised for both economic efficiency and inclusiveness. The policy environment must be developed for the free flow of data with proper backups to address economic and social concerns.

“ASEAN, particularly Malaysia and Thailand, has aggressively participated in international production networks of machinery industries. There is a preliminary finding in our empirical study suggesting that seeking complementarity between robotics and local resources may be the key for keeping production blocks in ASEAN. We must avoid massive “reshoring,” which means that production blocks located in newly developed economies would go back to developed countries,” explained Professor Fukunari.

Dr. Donald Hanna, Chief Economist of CIMB Group, added that ASEAN’s new vision requires the deepening of financial integration. Hanna believes the challenge for ASEAN will be to develop an efficient and stable financial system to facilitate growth while also deepening financial integration.

“An efficient and stable financial system is a central enabling condition for the investment needs to be mobilised for the ASEAN economic transformation, innovation and productivity growth into 2040. One way to strengthen the financial system would be to make financial firms more autonomous by liberalising the sector to foreign equity and competition. Reducing government ownership of financial institutions (with its implicit guarantee on deposits) would also encourage accountability in the system,” said Dr. Hanna.

He also added that the adoption of fintech will help improve the accessibility of financial services to consumers while being supervised by regulations focusing on ‘activities’ rather than ‘institutions’ to take into account new services.