Roadshow highlights openings in key Asean financial markets
Malaysia is pushing itself as an investment destination to Hong Kong and mainland investors, having organised an investment roadshow in the city.
Following a successful visit last year, Bursa Malaysia - Asean's largest bourse by number of listed companies - in partnership with OSK Investment Bank (OSKIB), presented Invest Malaysia to Hong Kong, mainly to share with fund managers the latest achievements of the country's Economic Transformation Programme (ETP) one year after its official launch.
Now in its seventh year, Bursa Malaysia's flagship Invest Malaysia roadshow aims to showcase the country's investment opportunities in key markets, with a view to further growing and expanding Malaysian capital market interest in the region.
The event attracted a gathering of fund houses and investment bankers keen to know the incentives offered by the Malaysians.
Speaking to fund managers, Tajuddin Atan, CEO of Bursa Malaysia, emphasised Malaysia's natural advantage to tap into the fast-growing Asean market. 'Malaysia's unique centrality to Asean provides a natural ability for Malaysian companies to tap into the growth of Asean - a market of 600 million people with strong GDP growth through 2015 nearing 6 per cent as projected by the Paris-based Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. The mid- to large-capitalised companies showcased in Hong Kong demonstrate the depth of our capital market and those leveraging the Asean growth.'
The Malaysian delegation also took the opportunity to highlight capital market integrity, pointing out that Malaysia has emerged as a world leader in regulatory practices and is recognised as among the world's top five.
Malaysia is ranked fourth by the World Bank Doing Business 2012 Report and fifth by the World Economic Forum Global Competitiveness Report 2011/2012 for Investor Protection. In addition, Malaysia was promoted by FTSE from Secondary Emerging to Advanced Emerging in June.
Tajuddin drove home the advantages of these achievements and added that the mainland had demonstrated strong confidence in Malaysia when the country was accorded Qualified Domestic Institutional Investor (QDII) status by China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC) in June last year. Malaysia is now the only emerging economy with QDII status.
'Being accorded QDII status has allowed us to make in-roads with Chinese funds. In fact, we were in Shanghai on a courtesy visit to the Shanghai Stock Exchange where we discussed regional capital market developments,' Tajuddin says.
Malaysia's ETP aims to create US$440 billion worth of investment and business opportunities. The ETP, launched in October last year, was presented to fund managers at last year's Invest Malaysia roadshow in Hong Kong. Returning to present a progress update of the ETP initiatives was Senator Idris Jala, Minister in the Prime Minister's Department of Malaysia and CEO of the Performance Management and Delivery Unit (PEMANDU).
U Chen Hock, CEO of OSKIB, indicated that fund managers acknowledged the ETP as positive. 'The Hong Kong fund managers noted the comprehensiveness of the ETP. They acknowledged that it should provide an incremental boost to companies in key growth sectors and are thus keen to look at opportunities for their funds.'
Chris Eng, OSK's head of research for Malaysia, says some of the interest in Malaysia stems from the fact that Bursa Malaysia consistently outperformed many of its peer exchanges since 2000. According to the latest OSK research, similar performance was observed since the bull run in 2006 and, despite the recent recession from 2008 onwards, the Kuala Lumpur Composite Index's resilience was evident. 'The tenacity of Malaysian companies to outperform provides some comfort in the current global market uncertainty and volatility,' Eng says.
Tajuddin says Bursa Malaysia, together with OSKIB, will bring Invest Malaysia back to Hong Kong next year.
