The Association of Southeast Asian Nations has set the goal of launching the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) by the end of 2015, and is now pressing forward with moves toward market integration. Recently the adoption of a common time zone was discussed among foreign ministers at Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia, but integration of capital markets is more advanced. Seven securities exchanges in six of 10 ASEAN member nations launched the ASEAN Exchanges in April 2011 with the aim of enhancing collaboration among them. The seven exchanges are Bursa Malaysia, Hanoi Stock Exchange, Hochiminh Stock Exchange, Indonesia Stock Exchange, Philippine Stock Exchange, the Stock Exchange of Thailand and Singapore Exchange.
Looking to get a wide spectrum of domestic and foreign investors to recognize ASEAN as a new investable asset class, ASEAN Exchanges has been taking a variety of approaches, including the selection of 180 "ASEAN Stars" blue-chip stocks -- 30 each from the six nations.
