Singapore remains favoured Asean hub: Baker & McKenzie report

SINGAPORE remains the favoured Asean hub, where 80 per cent of multinational companies locate their regional head office, according to the latest findings of a Baker & McKenzie report released on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Indonesia and Myanmar were cited as the most preferred destinations for new factories over the next five years, followed by the Philippines and Vietnam. The number of factories in Indonesia is expected to rise by nearly 70 per cent over the next five years.

The other key finding is that Asean integration is driving multinational companies to take a more pan-regional approach with their strategies. While Asean's economies are still highly diverse, almost two-thirds of the business leaders (64 per cent) say their customers are growing alike. In fact, 62 per cent of the surveyed companies are standardising their offerings across Asean.