Making cross-border data flow easier for Asean businesses

FOR companies operating in Asean, growth is often synonymous with crossing borders – not just to reach customers, but to manage operations.

A business headquartered in Singapore may manage human resources from the city-state while employing staff in Manila, storing transaction records and customer data on a server in Jakarta, and processing payments through a shared service centre in Kuala Lumpur. This regional model seems efficient and sound until it comes up against a growing patchwork of national data protection laws.

Every major Asean economy regulates how personal data can be collected, stored and shared by companies. For businesses, this means a new kind of trade barrier: typically, personal data can no longer move freely across borders unless the receiving party guarantees protection to an equivalent or adequate standard.