ABA seeks expansion of capital markets

The recently-concluded 35th ASEAN Banking Council Meeting is urging the region’s bankers to take advantage of the rapidly growing intra-regional trade and the development of capital markets.

The annual meeting was spearheaded by the ASEAN Bankers Association [ABA] held in the middle of this month at Dusit Island Resort, Chiang Rai, Thailand.

In this address, Bank of Thailand Governor M. R. Pridiyathorn Devakula called on Asian banks, with their vast branch networks throughout the region, could benefit immensely from intra-regional trade in the face of a slowdown in the US economy.

The Thai central bank governor also pointed out that it will be important for Asia to develop and integrate its capital market infrastructure to mobilize the vast private savings available in the region for productive uses, and to build more stable financial markets in the volatile global economy.

At the Council Meeting, the following resolutions and programs were approved for implementation in 2005/2006:

• Rotation of chairmanship: Effective immediately the chairmanship will rotate amongst all 10 member countries. Similarly, the hosting of the annual Council Meeting and bi-annual Conference will be rotated amongst all member countries, replacing the previous practice of rotating amongst the five original ASEAN members;

• Operational risks roundtable: A workshop on Operational Risks for senior bankers will be organized with the Risk Management Association [a US-based non-profit organization focusing on Risks Management] will be hosted by the Thai Bankers’ Association in Bangkok in the 1st quarter of 2006.

• Seminar on KRIs: A seminar on key risk indicators [KRIs] will be held in Manila and hosted by the Bankers’ Association in the Philippines (BAP) in the 2nd quarter of 2006 to apply some of the lessons learned at the Operational Risks Workshop.

• Training assistance: The pilot "One-on-One Mentor" program adopted in the 2003 Bali Council Meeting was implemented during 2004 /2005. Newer members reported that the scheme has proved to be useful and will continue to be expanded. Members with training institutes were asked to step up the sharing of their core curricula with one another. Visits to other member countries, especially by newer members, to observe operations and exchange ideas was also endorsed Furthermore, ABA Secretariat will explore various ways to raise funds for the training assistance program.

• Co-operation with IFC: It was agreed that ABA and IFC [International Finance Corp., a subsidiary of World Bank], whose senior representatives were invited to the meeting, would further explore and develop a sustainable scheme for capacity building training assistance for the newer ASEAN associations. For reasons of operational and cost efficiency, it was agreed that co-ordination with IFC would be centralized with the ABA Secretariat.

• Islamic banking workshop: Brunei will host a workshop on Islamic Banking, where practitioners from Malaysia and Indonesia as well as invited experts from elsewhere will share their experience in providing Islamic banking services and discuss ways to make these more widely available throughout ASEAN.

• Building inter-regional relations: Visits to Shanghai and the Republic of Korea over the last two years have been successful in their objective to open doors for communication between ASEAN banks and banks in other regions. The Council agreed that the delegates should take the opportunity to follow-up with the banks visited on a bilateral basis hereafter. India was identified as the next country to visit in 2006.