ASEAN stock exchanges to form e-trading link

Five Southeast Asian stock exchanges have agreed to forge an electronic trading link among them that will allow brokerages in their countries to conduct seamless cross-border electronic trades.

The five exchanges in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand inked a memorandum "to form an ASEAN electronic trading link" at a meeting in Bangkok yesterday, according to a joint statement they issued.

"This e-trading link, through one single access point, allows intra-ASEAN cross border trading and will attract more international funds into ASEAN," the statement said.

The facility is expected to be made available sometime next year.

Although only five of the 10 ASEAN member countries have signed the memorandum, the linkage will also be open to other ASEAN members.

Currently, cross-border trades in the region have to be done through local brokerages based in the other country, but with the introduction of e-trading linkage, it will be possible to do so directly and seamlessly.

The linkage is also seen as part of ASEAN's aim to achieve a more integrated ASEAN capital market with harmonized rules and regulations, in line with the group's goal of an ASEAN economic community by 2015.