Citigroup sanguine about Asean despite social tensions

[SINGAPORE] Citigroup remains optimistic on Asean, as the 10 Southeast-Asian nations in the economic bloc make strides in creating standardised rules to smoothen cross-border trade within the region, said Michael Zink, Citi's head of Asean, and country officer for Singapore.

This sanguine view comes despite risks on the horizon, Mr Zink told The Business Times in a recent interview. The dogged efforts by Asean countries to meet next year's deadline to implement the Asean Economic Community Blueprint - which sets out goals to "transform Asean into a single market and production base" - are being pitted against social tensions such as income equality, and in Singapore's case, the fear over a reliance on foreign labour.

"It's the aspiration of the community," said Mr Zink, referring to the blueprint. "Nobody's backing away from this."