Tapping a new common market

THIS WEEK'S TOPIC: How is your business gearing up to tap opportunities from the Asean Economic Community (AEC) ?

Hans Hanegraaf

Country Executive, ABN AMRO Bank Singapore and CEO of ABN AMRO Private Banking Asia & Middle East

The Asean Economic Community (AEC) will fundamentally overhaul South-east Asia's investment and financial market landscape, with a more integrated financial services industry in the long term. With greater financial collaboration and freer cross-border investment and capital flows between Asean countries, companies will need to revisit their business strategies in order to fully benefit from the integrated economy.

For ABN AMRO, the AEC presents opportunities for us to better serve our existing clients, and widen our customer base, for both our Energy, Commodity and Transport (ECT) and Private Banking businesses. We intend to leverage our solid footprint in Singapore, Hong Kong and Dubai, in this regard. To remain relevant for our local and international clients, we build tailored solutions based on our close to 190 years of presence, local know-how and expertise in South-east Asia. This involves deepening our local talent bench strength by enhancing the expertise of our existing team as well as complementing it with new talent. At the same time, we are continuously strengthening our infrastructure to ensure our governance, risk management and compliance practices remain robust across the region.

Geraint Hughes

Singapore Managing Partner

Clifford Chance

Looking at the opportunities globally, the option to invest in a region with a population of 640 million and a growing middle class means that, across a range of sectors, our clients globally are increasingly focused on Asean.

From a legal perspective, and even looking beyond the Asean Economic Community, there are a range of initiatives that will help to facilitate investment both within and across the region, not least by providing greater legal certainty and clarity for investors in the years ahead. These initiatives include the potential harmonisation of certain commercial codes, as well as establishing and cementing the reputation and standing of world class forums for effective dispute resolution in Singapore - including through the new Singapore International Commercial Court.

At Clifford Chance, our 200-strong Asean team across the region combines cutting-edge global expertise with first-hand experience of transactions and disputes in the diverse markets of Asean, providing a pathway for successful investment in the region. This approach is built upon our continued investment in our diverse team, our profession and our communities across Asean.

Guy Harvey-Samuel

Group General Manager and Chief Executive Officer

HSBC

The purpose of the AEC is to tighten and seamlessly connect people, businesses and economies within Asean. Its concept is underpinned by the global economic reality that supply chains and capital flows are increasingly moving multiple times, across borders and between big and small companies and institutions and that, therefore, a connected region is stronger than the sum of its parts. The AEC's goal of greater regional connectivity is congruent with what HSBC has sought to do throughout its 150-year history - to connect businesses and people to opportunities across markets and helping them realise their ambitions. We believe our advantage lies in the extent to which our global network corresponds with markets relevant to international business and people flows. Within the Asean context, we will continue to support our clients in taking advantage of the global trade and capital flows, and to help them capture wealth creation and social mobility in these faster-growing markets.

Andrew Wildblood

Head of Asia Pacific Enterprise

Telstra Global Enterprise Service

For all businesses operating in Singapore and more broadly across Asean, long-term success once the AEC is formed will really depend on how you innovate. That means understanding what the new needs of the market are and being able to keep reinventing yourself.

Another key consideration will be the ability to collaborate and recognising that you can't do everything yourself. The nature and speed of markets are changing, the volume of information flows increasing dramatically, and that means partnerships are critical. Our joint venture with Telkom Indonesia to provide managed services to Indonesian companies is a prime example of this, as is our recent acquisition of Pacnet Limited, which will help us become a leading provider of enterprise services to multinational companies and carriers in the region.

As the deadline for the AEC formation approaches and technology makes the world smaller, we are spending a lot of time analysing the economic opportunities, adopting and adapting new technologies, focusing on our pan-Asia growth aspirations. As always, patience is the key to success. However with the anticipated freer flow of goods, services and labour across the ten-nation group, we believe the rewards can be commensurately higher and, many would argue, not to be missed.

Elim Chew

Founder & Managing Director

77th Street

Although it is great that the AEC is ready to get off the ground, it has many inherent issues that are yet to be solved, such as the fact that Asean is not homogeneous, with many cultures, languages, business practices and laws.

It will take some time - of work and legislation, treaties and so on - before it can be anything like the EU.

However, I will not want to miss the boat. We are in negotiations with potential partners in Malaysia and Indonesia in view of the upcoming greater opportunities when AEC happens.

Joseph Lim

Vice-President, Asia-Pacific

FNT Software

The case of Asean as a collective entity in terms of a borderless domestic market from within and as a supply base to key regions in the world is becoming increasingly compelling. A strong case in point is that Asean - as a collective grouping - recently overtook Japan to become China's second largest import source. From a Singapore perspective, we see the differing competencies of each of the Asean countries as complementary, and coming together, a formidable whole. In this context, FNT Software views the Republic as an important gateway into this common market. With its sophisticated IT infrastructure, Singapore has the potential to become one of the top data centre locations in the world. This is why, as a key global data centre infrastructure and service management provider, we decided to use Singapore as a springboard into Asean. We see Singapore as having the strategic flexibility and capability to manage and support the network infrastructure from a skills-and-cost perspective for companies operating in this common market, especially to tap the growing opportunities in Malaysia and Indonesia.

Laletha Nithiyanandan

Managing Director

Talent Design Potential

If it has taken us some ten years to set up the AEC, it's going to take us even longer to iron out the details on how we can become a single market. The reality of doing business in Singapore means being " hooked" into the rest of the region, as much of the growth for us, comes from outside Singapore. AEC has potential with emerging economies within it but I don't see businesses waiting for AEC to help fuel their business growth. There are many questions that need to be addressed on how we can become a single market and there are many lessons to be learnt. In the meantime, international business opportunities are growing and Singapore is a brand that is globally recognised; we should tap on this and extend beyond this region. I think this is the future - to become world class.

Tim Moylan

President, Asia-Pacific Japan & Middle East

Infor

As a global enterprise software solutions provider, our clients are increasingly working across borders to meet their customer needs, from hospitality to manufacturing. This has been the norm in Europe, and now this reality of increased cross-border interaction and one-market functionality is strengthening in the Asean region. As businesses expand rapidly and work across markets, critical business decisions are being made in one country and implemented in another. As such, it is crucial to have adequate infrastructure and communication platforms such as the AEC to support and facilitate the movement of data within organisations, among partners and to customers throughout the region, to drive productivity.

The impact of regional integration is greatest for companies that are moving quickly to digitise and move to the cloud, from MNCs to SMEs. As strengthened regional integration will provide a platform that streamlines the exchange of information, cloud solutions will connect businesses with the resources they need to maintain flexibility and scalability. Against this backdrop, the AEC creates unique opportunities for businesses to modernise, achieve unparalleled productivity and tap into growing cross-border opportunities.

Alvin Yeo SC

Chairman & Senior Partner

WongPartnership LLP

While some tariff barriers within Asean have been removed, regulatory barriers in various industries still remain across the different countries. Significantly among these is foreign shareholding limits for investments. Businesses wishing to expand across the entire Asean bloc are therefore presented with hurdles at the outset. As and when Asean countries harmonise these laws, it would undoubtedly present opportunities to investors, including professional services firms. WongPartnership already has presence and business in six to seven of the Asean countries and will continue to export and expand our legal services across this dynamic region. With our well-trained, multilingual and highly qualified professionals, Singapore firms are well positioned to support our clients' investments and business ventures.

Tolan Steele

Group Country Manager Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and SVP, Global Clients, Visa

Singapore is Visa's Asia-Pacific hub and here we are uniquely placed to benefit from a high quality workforce and opportunities across our Asean markets. We are committed to growing our local talent, whether in our most-established office (Singapore) or newest office (Myanmar). Asean is an important region for Visa with markets that are rapidly adopting electronic payments, fostering growth and delivering efficiency to businesses and governments. Driving innovation continues to be our top priority and we have launched several new solutions across the region. Singapore, for example, is one of the world's leading markets for Visa payWave, where more than one in every four transactions is contactless. We are also committed to deepening our client partnerships, and we are increasingly supporting banks across multiple Asean markets as they look to expand and grow their businesses across the region. We see great opportunities in Asean, now and well into the future.

Abhijit Banerjee

Vice-President and Region Head, Apac

Servion Global Solutions

The creation of Asean Economic Community will further increase tourism and commerce among Asean nations. The region will flourish, bolstered by reduced travel restrictions, easy movement of talent, smoother flow of capital and improved fiscal measures for cross border trade.

Growing mobility, increased traffic, greater spends and heightened brand interactions will put unprecedented pressure on brands. They need to not only deliver excellent customer experience but also the same quality of experience consistently across the region. It requires a combination of technology, human capital and training.

Singapore will lead the way from a learning ground perspective. But even Singapore brands will feel the "consistency-pinch" once they step out to other, not so developed, markets.

Servion has been serving the Asean region, out of Singapore, for over 12 years. Our Asean experience places us perfectly to support organisations in delivering excellent customer experience; the holy grail of brand building and marketing in the social era.

Lars Mikael Jensen

CEO

Maersk Line, Asia-Pacific

With strong GDP growth, a booming middle class which is consuming more and a growing shift of production from China to some of the economies in Asean, we are seeing an increased flow of both finished and semi-finished goods being shipped within the region. This trend will likely grow exponentially with the formation of the Asean Economic Community, as one of its visions is to develop a single shipping market to enable free flow of goods and services.

At Maersk, we have a comprehensive container shipping service network to cater to the rising flow of imports and exports. We have been operating in South-east Asia for more than 60 years with a broad footprint of 25 offices, and also established our own agency in Myanmar last year. As developments in the region are very dynamic, we are consistently monitoring the market and are agile in adjusting our service network and size of ships, to ensure we can cater to the needs of customers in the different countries.

Teo Lay Lim,

Senior Managing Director, Asean

Accenture

In a recent Accenture survey on the impact of the AEC, we found that many businesses are ready to capitalise on the opportunities in the region created by the AEC.

To succeed in the post-AEC world, companies will need to have ready responses to the following:

Craig Charlton

Senior Vice-President

Epicor Software Asia Pte Ltd

IT has a key role to play in creating a borderless economy through cyber-connectivity, which is essential for companies to efficiently manage their extended value chain across the region. Scalable and adaptive IT systems will help companies to better manage their global, regional and local partnerships and collaborations.

With the establishment of the AEC, manufacturing will be moving closer to Asean consumers to improve customer responsiveness and turnaround times, making the supply chain more predictable. However, organisations will only benefit if information across the extended value chain is captured, analysed and shared seamlessly and instantly - something that the social business function on modern ERP (enterprise resource planning) systems enables.

Having a single hub for communication that records all interactions helps different departments and regional teams to collaborate and is scalable as markets grow and change. It will help those tapping into the trading opportunities of the AEC to succeed.

Frans Kok

General Manager

AEB (Asia-Pacific) Pte Ltd

Today, companies operating on a global level face high risks, from natural disasters to the financial implications of cross-border trading. The establishment of the Asean Economic Community (AEC) will help to mitigate some of these risks, while giving companies an opportunity to grow in a highly competitive but equitable economic environment.

AEB, as a provider of IT solutions for global trade and logistics, is gearing up for a higher level of integration in the industry. In the past, logistics was very much about getting goods from point A to B. But with the integration of industries across the region to promote regional sourcing, modern IT freight management systems enable companies to set up and manage multiple supply channels connecting warehouses across the region, enabling greater speed of delivery.

Thanks to enhanced infrastructure and communications connectivity, another opportunity to be tapped into is the harmonisation and streamlining of trade and customs documentation, laws and procedures, which will allow for smoother transactions and trade.

Ang Thiam Guan

Managing Director for Singapore and Brunei

Cisco

"Transforming Asean: Moving Towards Smart Communities" - the theme for this year's Asean Telecommunications and Information Technology Ministers' Meeting - encapsulates the region's commitment to advance itself using smart technology.

Many Asean countries have introduced initiatives to harness the transformative potential of the Internet of Everything (IoE). By connecting the unconnected, Asean nations can transform the way they connect, collaborate and create value as a borderless economic community.

For emerging economies, technology infrastructure is essential. For developed countries like Singapore, it is the innovative application of technology that will allow the AEC to effectively capitalise on the opportunities enabled by the Internet of Everything (IoE), which has been valued at US$19 trillion globally.

At Cisco, we believe that the Internet and education are the two great equalisers in life. Critical to working with innovation and in an IoE economy in Asean is a highly-skilled workforce.

Cisco has been developing this talent pool through the Cisco Networking Academy programme. We have trained more than 4.8 million ICT professionals in Asean over the past 16 years and aim to develop 400,000 more by 2018. The foundation of skills and knowledge will allow economies to accelerate their development and develop new services, resulting in the unified progress of all within the AEC.

Nicholas Bloy

Managing Partner

Navis Capital Partners

Asean economic integration will be a positive move for the regional private equity market. A common market will help Asean companies address a much larger set of customers, thereby enhancing intra-regional trade. Private equity firms will have more opportunities to use their capital and expertise to build local players into regional champions. This is especially true for firms like Navis, which focuses on enhancing the competitive position and governance of the companies we invest in for the long-term. Simply put, the competitively-advantaged company wins - and in the AEC, such companies can win bigger.

In our experience, complex cross-border deals often present investors with the best return and accordingly, the AEC will mean that we are increasingly focusing on investments that take advantage of the region's growing economic linkages.

Cynthia Stuckey

Managing Director

Forum Asia-Pacific

Managing talent will be at the top of the agenda as South-east Asia moves towards regional integration. The Asean Economic Community is set to unleash tremendous opportunities for businesses, including greater access to talent within the region. Business and HR leaders need to adapt their talent recruitment, retention and development strategies to fully ride the wave of opportunities and address the challenges associated with a changing regional marketplace.

As a leadership development and training partner to multinational companies, our focus is on strengthening our capabilities to support regional and global companies that are set to participate in this new era, providing the necessary strategies and capability building for them to effectively manage a highly mobile and culturally diverse talent pool. Business leaders need to brace themselves and adeptly steer their companies to close leadership skill gaps, embrace cross-cultural differences, improve virtual leadership and understand new norms and new engagement drivers.

Max Loh

Managing Partner, Asean and Singapore

Ernst & Young LLP

EY as a globally integrated organisation operates through 28 geographic regions including Asean, which reflects the increasingly borderless business environments such as the impending Asean Economic Community (AEC).

Operating as an Asean cluster not only enables us to better respond to the changing expectations of both our clients for services and our people for career development and mobility opportunities; it also reflects the spirit of the AEC. Apart from providing bespoke client services relating to market entry, tax planning, business and strategy advice, and regulatory compliance, we also support research and dialogues that help to promote the AEC agenda from both policy and business standpoints. Given Singapore's position as a South-east Asia hub and a centre of excellence on many fronts including professional services, it is important that our local firms do not waste the strategic advantage and instead be bold in their growth ambitions to become regional leaders in their respective fields.

Tan Chong Huat

Managing Partner

RHTLaw Taylor Wessing LLP

The emergence of the Asean Economic Community will transform this diverse region into an integrated single market and production base with significant implications for lawyers in Singapore.

Staying ahead of the curve is the new mantra. Our international reach and mobility are vital to our survival and success in this new environment. We have invested heavily in technology to improve interconnectivity and mobility, and also established the Asean Plus Group, a network of leading law firms in Asia which share our values and aspirations. We now offer clients access to over 750 lawyers in eight jurisdictions throughout the region, and we have plans for continued regional expansion.

Diversity is our strength. Our lawyers gain a better understanding of different cultures through our secondment programmes within the Asean Plus Group. With greater cooperation and interconnectivity, our regional operation is seamless. Our ability to access a larger market enhances our global competitiveness.

Chaly Mah

Chairman, Deloitte Singapore and

CEO of Deloitte South-east Asia

With the impending launch of the AEC in 2015, South-east Asia is becoming a magnet for global and large domestic businesses. For Deloitte, our presence in the Asean marketplace is unique amongst professional services firms because we operate our South-east Asia practices as one single firm. With our recent expansion into Cambodia, Lao PDR and Myanmar, our network now mirrors the markets that form the AEC bloc.

Deloitte South-east Asia enables our professionals to use their combined size, scale and expertise to offer greater breadth and depth of service to our clients across the region, providing deep local expertise with worldwide capabilities. It also provides better development opportunities for our talent to work seamlessly across the region.

We have also developed a specialist team focusing on the impact of the AEC, which is advising local and international companies on how to make the most of the opportunities and address the challenges that result from this integration.

Chris Hayman

Chairman

Seatrade

The establishment of the Asean Economic Community (AEC) will open up significant opportunities for the region's maritime industry. By removing trade barriers, it will increase the connectivity between countries inside and outside the region. In recent years, we have seen a significant growth in the volumes of intra-Asian cargo movements by sea, and the formation of the AEC will surely provide a further stimulus to this already established trend.

In order to effectively capture the opportunities and benefits the AEC will present at the end of the year, I know the maritime industry has been working ahead of time with both the public and private sectors to navigate any challenges standing in the way of the creation of the AEC.

Global industry forums, such as Sea Asia 2015 which is held in Singapore this week, are ideal platforms for industry players to come together to debate and discuss ways to steer the industry forward. Such cooperative efforts are critical for the maritime industry to maximise the opportunities from the AEC.

Chew Seng Kok

Managing Director

ZICO Holdings Inc

The AEC is an important turning point for the dynamic Asean region. Although the pace is sluggish and observers remain doubtful about its slow progress and its lack of noteworthy achievements to date, the Dec 31, 2015 deadline is merely a milestone of ongoing regional integration efforts. More important is the positive direction and momentum achieved towards integration.

To tap market opportunities, ZICO, as an integrated provider of multidisciplinary professional services with presence in the Asean region, has increased its local presence and adopted a liberal regional focus. ZICO is expanding regionally with clients, investing in enhancing skill sets and experience required on advising cross-border transactions. Further, ZICO is adopting new practices and technology to expand its knowledge beyond local boundaries. With the fast pace of change in the business world today, those with an entrepreneurial and winning mindset will take the lead in the new regional economic integration.

Todd Arthur

Managing Director

HRS Corporate

The region is entering an exciting period, with the formation of Asean Economic Community (AEC) as a single, globally competitive market by 2015. The AEC promise is for a region with free movement of goods, services, investment, skilled labour and a freer flow of capital, which has immense benefits for travel and tourism. Asean has been the perfect destination for blending business and leisure travel for centuries. Newly developed hotels, resorts, meeting and events facilities, airports, roads, and tourist attractions, are offering seamless and successful infrastructure and services in exotic cities at a value that no place else could compare.

As the global leading hotel solutions provider, HRS is encouraged by the promising prospects in the travel sector brought by AEC. We will continue to work towards developing sustainable solutions to enhance business travel accommodation management in the region, and play our role in building Singapore as the "New York of Asean".

Rex Dong

Managing Director of Asia Sales & Marketing

Seagate Technology

The potentially higher consumer demand from the creation of a larger borderless market, coupled with the region's appetite for innovative technology, gets us excited about the AEC. The grand plan will undoubtedly create greater opportunities for all businesses, but there are two areas in particular which we hope to see immediate impact: we are looking forward to seeing greater efficiency in moving products between borders, especially when it comes to getting products into the hands of our customers. The freer movement of persons and capital will also help the exchange of skilled professionals across the region, leading to better knowledge sharing and innovation-transfer. Seagate also has been actively engaging with the US-Asean Business Alliance for Competitive SMEs, to help SMEs in the region boost competitiveness and be ready to take on opportunities provided by the AEC.

Jim O'Gara

President

UPS South Asia District

UPS is excited about the prospect of a more integrated Asean, home to many of the region's fastest growing economies. Asean's enhanced physical connectivity offers a transportation company such as UPS new efficiencies and opportunities to connect supply chains, something very relevant as companies increasingly conduct integrated sourcing. We continue to support Asean SMEs through UPS-led, capacity-building workshops that help them get integrated into global supply chains. In 2014, UPS opened a new freight consolidation centre in Thailand and also established operations in Myanmar, effectively enabling all Asean markets to benefit from mutual trade, and we continue to seek similar opportunities. In this area, the implementation of Asean's transportation facilitation and customs agreements will be critical.

Gerard Ee

President, Institute of Singapore Chartered Accountants, and

Chairman, Singapore Institute of Accredited Tax Professionals

To harness the opportunities brought forth by the AEC, accountants and tax professionals must recognise that the single market integration will bring benefits that far outweigh the challenges brought about by the increased competition.

To facilitate the mobility of accountancy services professionals across Asean, which had high levels of protectionism in various markets, ISCA led the negotiation of the Asean Mutual Recognition Arrangement (MRA) on Accountancy Services that was signed last November. This will allow greater collaboration among professional accountants across Asean. For Singapore, our accountants will gain valuable Asean-centric knowledge, and enhance their value as trusted business advisers especially among small and medium practices planning for regional business expansion.

Backed by years of international tax experience in supporting both regional and international headquarters, Singapore's tax professionals are similarly in a prime position to seize greater opportunities as businesses seek to tap on their expertise to navigate the "tax minefield".

Overall, the AEC will provide extensive opportunities for the accountancy sector and profession, contributing to the development of Singapore as a leading global accountancy hub.

Tham Sai Choy

Chairman

KPMG's Asia Pacific region and

Managing Partner, KPMG in Singapore and Brunei

Our multinational clients around the world are expecting the Asean Economic Community to add significant momentum to the region's economic growth. Many of them are in fact more actively preparing for AEC than most local companies are. They are positive about continuing integration, greater competitiveness and the opening of economies.

As their investments pick up, we are seeing in turn greater interest in intra-Asean investment. We have relocated specialist resources from Singapore to other Asean locations, and repositioned many more to cover wider Asean responsibilities. Our consulting business now runs as an Asean-wide business, offering solutions that help our clients differentiate between the different economic environments as they move gradually towards greater convergence.

Jonathan Rake

Country Chief Executive Officer

Zurich Insurance Company, Singapore

Singapore is one of the driving forces for an Asean internal market. As CEO for our Singapore operations, I see the opportunity for further expansion by supporting the insurance needs of companies expanding within the region. Regional integration is underway.

However, it is critical for companies to stay on top of local regulations for their respective industries. For the insurance sector, there are still significant developments required to drive a greater freedom of services and alignment in regulation across the respective jurisdictions, before we can all benefit from the full potential of the Asean Economic Community (AEC). Zurich is preparing for these opportunities, and one area is in the development of new propositions for Asean customers to address the changing industry landscape.

Building on Zurich's International Programme Capability and experience in structuring insurance programmes for the European Economic Area (EEA), our General Insurance corporate division is developing a new proposition that is focused on customers in the mid-market commercial segment with operations in more than one country in Asean. We aim to provide a single solution that addresses their requirements across multiple lines of business and the local regulatory/tax requirements in the markets that they choose to operate in.

J Michael Bradley

Managing Director, CyberSource Asia-Pacific

Vice-President, Visa Inc

(CyberSource is a wholly owned subsidiary of Visa Inc)

CyberSource provides secure electronic payment services for organisations conducting online and mobile commerce. We are witnessing tremendous growth throughout South-east Asia and attribute the acceleration of digital commerce to several trends. First, the rise of a digitally savvy consumer class in South-east Asia is favourably changing attitudes to online and mobile commerce. Second, the rapid pace of technical and business model innovation is creating new ways to tap into evolving consumer sentiment. Finally, the region's 4 per cent-6 per cent economic growth rates attract investment from global leaders in logistics, commerce services, and social media - all fundamental for building digital business models. As the benefits of a more integrated economic region unfold through the Asean Economic Community, we believe that digital commerce will continue to accelerate. We take a long-term view and continue to invest in terms of in-market resources, capabilities unique to Asean markets, and strengthening relationships with relevant industry and government organisations.

Chandran Nair

Managing Director

National Instruments - South-east Asia

Given today's dynamic business landscape, the formation of the Asean Economic Community (AEC) would be a key driving force for market innovation and business opportunities in the region. At National Instruments, we look forward to further strengthen our collaboration efforts with local SMEs across the region by providing them with greater access to tools and technologies. As the SMEs enhance their technological capabilities and productivity in new product development, it also brings about strong and sustainable business growth for the company in the long term. Ultimately, the success of AEC lies in the ability to integrate regional expertise and leverage the unique strengths of each country; to transform Asean into a highly competitive and prosperous region with strong economic development.

V R Srivatsan

Asean Managing Director

Autodesk

The Asean Economic Community presents a possible future of a seamless regional market and production base. I am very optimistic about the opportunities it will bring to regional businesses as it has the potential to make Asean an economic powerhouse.

The emerging economies in Asean face many of the challenges that Autodesk design technology can help address, including infrastructure buildout and innovative design and manufacturing. When a truly seamless market is established, business decision makers can optimise the deployment of resources towards value-driven activity - such as innovation, job creation and growth. We look to consolidate our existing base; be laser-focused on industry sectors such as automotive, infrastructure and oil and gas; expand into high growth cities like Surabaya, Bandung, Medan, Penang, Cebu and Hanoi; and enter new markets like Cambodia, Brunei, Myanmar and Laos.

Ricardo Pesce

Managing Director

Embraer Asia-Pacific

Over the next 20 years, Asia-Pacific (Asean included) will represent about two-thirds of global air travel growth. In the last decade, we have seen a big growth of air traffic in the region but still very concentrated on primary markets which are over-competitive - airlines are finding it hard to make profits with their large-capacity aircraft. However, there are still many opportunities to be explored. For example, we have identified over 800 markets in Asia-Pacific that could benefit from better frequency levels by using 70-130 seat jets. Given the situation, we are advocating to airlines the benefit of moving from "red oceans" to "blue oceans" - to seek out opportunities in markets that are currently underserved or not even served. Our value-add as an aircraft manufacturer is to provide airlines the ability to "right-size" their capacity as they enter these untapped markets and improve their profitability.

Teo Eng Cheong

Chief Executive Officer

International Enterprise Singapore

The integration of ten diverse economies for AEC is a complex and dynamic process. Some areas have seen good progress, such as the elimination of tariff for the goods sector. As we work towards the freer flow of services and capital, the AEC will eventually increase the overall competitiveness and productivity of Asean and make the region more attractive to global investors. Companies should appreciate the different stages of economic development across the region and be prepared to manage different challenges within each country. But the region's sound fundamentals - a young and large population, abundant natural resources as well as an emerging middle class - will propel it forward as a manufacturing and consumerism hub. Singapore companies thus need to adopt a pan-South-east Asia and long-term perspective, and diversify operations across markets to maximise competitive advantages.

Tom Zack

President SEA

EMC Corporation

The formation of the Asean Economic Community (AEC) by the end of 2015 will see unprecedented changes and growth in Asia with better access to new markets and opening up new opportunities for businesses. Technology will play a pivotal role in formalising a single integrated economy. We will see more businesses harnessing cloud and analytics technologies to improve collaboration and get the most out of their data. EMC acknowledges the importance of a united, open market and are supporting our customers through their move to a more integrated market space. The opening up of the Asean markets will see an impact on the talent gap. Bridging this gap will be one of the biggest challenges in the region as we strive to train and nurture local talent who can work and understand the new technologies and get the most of them. The EMC Academic Alliance Programme is a collaboration with colleges and universities worldwide to help prepare students for successful careers in a transforming IT industry. The programme partners educational institutes around the region - 149 partner universities in Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines and Cambodia - to nurture a new generation equipped with important ICM skills to benefit from opportunities in the future. EMC will continue to work on the ground level with educational institutions to bridge the skills gap for a more efficient workforce across the region.

David Leong

Managing Director

PeopleWorldwide Consulting Pte Ltd

During the 1960s, when our first prime minister Lee Kuan Yew envisaged a merger with Malaysia, it was because we needed a hinterland for Singapore to survive. He believed in the unity of the two territories. It would be a people connected by geography, economics and ties of kinship. Today, the narrative for the Asean Economic Community is about the same except for an expanded geography and economics. The larger hinterland will be good for Singapore and in pitching ourselves as the New York of Asean or the capital city of AEC, Singapore can play a galvanising and melting pot role. We bring people together to trade, deal, transact in Singapore using our stable and safe infrastructure. The freer flow of goods and services through Singapore, from Singapore or to Singapore, is all good for Singapore. Freer flow of human capital, talents - brain or brawn - will strengthen our workforce and talent pool. For a labour-deficit country, we can add value by educating, training, skilling, re-skilling and deploying the human capital for our own use and then re-deploy them back to their home countries with new skills and knowledge. At the end, all stakeholders benefit - Singapore, members of AEC, people within AEC. A true win-win for all.

Natalia Shuman

Senior Vice-President and General Manager, EMEA and Asia-Pacific Regions

Kelly Services

The formation of the Asean Economic Community (AEC) is a major milestone that will bring about developments in the region, including free flow of skilled labour across Asean countries.

Our presence in Asean spans 10 countries, underpinned by our unparalleled cross-border ability to source for talents with specific skills and facilitating the hiring process for national and global customers. Standard operating processes and operating platforms, such as our database, are fully integrated across the countries in the region. Companies will need support and advice around accessing and mobilising talent across integrated markets, like in the European Union (EU). In the lead-up to AEC integration, our best practices in EU countries will allow us to help companies in Asean to make better workforce-related decisions. Having a profound understanding of the workforce trends and needs in this region also allows us to advise businesses on a full range of talent management programmes, including training requirements, wage and incentive offerings to ensure successful hiring and on-boarding of employees.

As a corporate member and board member of the International Confederation of Private Employment Services (CIETT), we are able to provide advice to governments and labour organisations on internal and cross-country regulations to achieve key goals like productivity gains, wage parity and women participation in the labour markets.

Tan Mui Huat

President and Chief Executive Officer, Asia Region

International SOS

International SOS has been conducting business in the Asean countries for the last 30 years since its founding. Our initial focus was to help foreign MNCs manage and mitigate travel-related health and security risks for their employees in the region.

As the growth of Asean's economies is increasingly driven by intra-regional and international trade, International SOS' core services today revolve around helping companies realise and fulfil the importance of protecting their business travellers and international assignees from these travel-related risks.

Healthcare is a priority sector that the Asean governments have identified for region-wide integration. The upcoming AEC formation is expected to further accelerate the growth of the region's healthcare industry, driven by closer cross-boundary collaboration between service providers, and a freer flow of goods, investment, capital and skilled labour.

With increased affluence across Asean, Aspire Lifestyles, our premier loyalty, concierge and assistance solutions provider, is well-positioned to meet the needs of high net worth individuals in the region.

To ensure that we retain our competitive edge, the company will continue to invest in people development and building capabilities in these economies, using our global base in Singapore as a springboard to engage with the rest of Asean and the world.

Lim Soon Hock

Managing Director

PLAN-B ICAG Pte Ltd

AEC is without doubt a positive development. The eventual full integration into a single market will open up significant opportunities for businesses. However, when compared to the EC, this will take a longer time to materialise. Asean is politically, economically and socially more complex and disparate than Europe.

How free the flow of goods, services, skilled labour and investments across the 10-nation grouping will be will depend largely on the willingness of members to put aside national interests for the larger benefits of the AEC. AEC can learn from the experiences of EC in managing the complexity and disparity, which have in recent times threatened the unity of the EC, as a result of economic woes of Greece and Turkey.

While AEC spells vast economic potential for businesses big and small, from across the region and beyond, companies should not rush into investing in it, but be circumspect and do so at a pace and level commensurate with risks assessment, especially on the political front. To mitigate risks, businesses can gear up by setting up local operations to increase their presence and to leverage on the lower costs of doing businesses in non-mission critical and / or less value-add areas, such as manufacturing or backroom support services. For example, I would expect a company such as Medibank, which is involved in the provision of telehealth consulting, to take full advantage of the AEC to fast-track the setting up of a virtual large regional call centre, and tap the bourgeoning business from the combined market of 640 million people.

Leong Soo Yee

Singapore Head

ACCA

The establishment of the AEC is an ambitious project that will require thousands of skilled and mobile accounting professionals who can work across borders as companies and accountancy firms move towards regionalisation.

As the leading global body that develops professional accountants, ACCA is excited to play its part and is working closely with national bodies and employers across Asean to grow the talent pipeline and increase the mobility of accountants. We have been collaborating closely with the national accounting bodies and regulators of the 10 Asean countries.

Recent initiatives include an Australian Aid funded project to support the implementation of the Asean Mutual Recognition Agreement to support mobility of accounting professionals, and a World Bank-funded project for the Confederation of Asia Pacific Accountants to grow capacity in continuing professional development.

Some of our recent partnerships in Asean include an IFRS training session for the Ministry of Finance in Laos; and a joint conference with the Laos Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the Asean Federation of Accountants that discussed regional integration and global best practices to strengthen the finance and accountancy profession.

We regularly participate in the Asean Federation of Accountants (AFA) council meetings to strategise on how to build capacity and strengthen the finance profession across Asean to meet the demands of the AEC, and to achieve the wider economic ambitions and social development goals of the region.

Mike Ansley

President, Asia-Pacific

Avaya

As the leader of an international business based in Singapore, there is one word which springs to mind: opportunity. To me the Asean Economic Community represents a breaking down of barriers to trade, to the free movement of skilled resources and to the free flow of capital and investment. Add to that the opportunity enabled by rapidly evolving technology to bring the people of Asean closer together and I see real excitement ahead. In a business context, the ability to drive more seamless and personalised engagement with your customers is crucial to business growth. Creating an effective environment for your teams to engage with one another is also fundamental to your success. The creation of the AEC will certainly help us to achieve that across Asean, and help to drive Asean's relevance on a global stage - and here in Singapore, with both government and businesses determined to play a very significant role in that success, the outlook is very promising.

Toby Koh

Group Managing Director

Ademco Security Group Pte Ltd

The security industry in the Asean region does have some challenges in the form of non-tariff barriers. The industry is largely regulated by the respective countries' Ministries of Home Affairs or law enforcement agencies. This proves to impede the ease of direct entry into various Asean markets. Once AEC is realised, I hope to see a gradual relaxation of licensing requirements that would allow us to further invest our technology and resources into the region. Ademco has been exploring the investment and setup of a Central Alarms Monitoring Station across the region, banking on the experience and knowhow we have had over the last 20 years in Singapore and northern Asia. It is a grand vision to liberalise the different business sectors across AEC. It is certainly a step in the right direction. However, I believe in reality, this will take many steps over years to achieve what the architects have envisaged.

Christophe Duchatellier

CEO

Adecco Asia

For a recruitment and staffing company, a free flow of labour - especially skilled professionals - could be a great opportunity for our clients to fill the growing number of job vacancies and need for talent. With an expanded talent pool, it would be easier to find the right skills with the best experience. We need to facilitate labour mobility within the AEC. However before we do that, it is important that professional qualifications are recognised in the Asean's world of work. There are many diverse qualifications, diplomas and licences awarded in different jurisdictions of public authorities in Asia, including multinational companies. There is a need to analyse further the character of these qualifications, their credibility and value on the labour market, both for individuals and employers.

Paul Henaghan

Managing Director, Apac

ACI Worldwide

The AEC represents a huge economic opportunity as gross GDP is forecast to grow from US$2.4 trillion in 2013 to more than US$6.2trillion by 2023. The region already represents 4.4 per cent of the world GDP and is forecast to continue to grow exponentially. However, the important trend is how intra-Asean trade has grown over the past 10 years, bolstered by the reduction in tariffs. Asean intra-trade in goods is a US$600 billion market in 2013. To support intra-Asean trade and in particular the rise of e-commerce (benefiting local consumers and businesses), strong, harmonised and efficient payment and settlement systems are required. Every day, ACI works with banks, corporates and national infrastructures to build these systems and support payment flows. In particular, we are focusing on offering secure, reliable real-time infrastructure across the 10 AEC members from national switches to supporting new digital payment methods that will develop e-commerce.

David Siah

Country Manager

Trend Micro Singapore

As businesses start to grow and invest in the Asean region, one of their major requirements will be the need to protect themselves against advanced persistent cyber attacks (APTs). Over the past year, the increase in the frequency and intensity of cyber attacks globally has created a surge in awareness amongst businesses operating in the region about the importance of securing one's organisation.·

This creates a positive growth market for Trend Micro here in the region, and we are able to leverage that through an established presence with a solid partner network and a core team of security researchers. With the AEC and the economic and political linkages it creates, we will be able to further channel our expertise across Asean and help businesses - both big and small - protect themselves in this new digital era.

Rick Scurfield

President

NetApp APAC

Trade liberalisation in the region will lead to more investment to promote innovation, economic growth and development. Thus, the formation of the AEC presents a huge opportunity both to NetApp and, most importantly, to our customers. Many of our customers have a regional presence and are branching out into emerging markets as business conditions become more favourable including better communications connectivity and IT infrastructure. Thus, enterprises will look towards IT to enable and enhance their business, increasing demand for our solutions and services.

Furthermore, as NetApp works closely with business partners, we believe that the AEC will propel them to scale out and, as they do so, there will be more co-innovation and stronger business outcomes. This will present opportunities to consolidate and reinvest in other high growth markets. In summary, AEC enables companies such as NetApp to build the right technology architecture in developing nations which are gearing up to become smarter cities.

Dora Hoan

Group CEO

Best World International

I am looking forward to the day AEC is formed as my company Best World's Asian strategy, grounded with prudent management and nimble operations, is well positioned to take advantage of the opportunities presented by this association.

Best World is a key regional player with subsidiaries in Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and Philippines, an agent in Myanmar. We also have strong networks in Brunei, Cambodia, and Laos. Therefore, the formation of AEC will pave the way for us to enhance revenue and manage cost and productivity to a much larger extent.

The promise of free flow of goods, services, investment, capital and skilled labour will see our company reaping much benefits in terms of product licencing, import duties, and other taxes. We may also move some of our products to be manufactured in Singapore.

Ronald Lee

Managing Director

PrimeStaff Management Services Pte Ltd

There have been a few exciting developments in the Asean region lately and the formation of the AEC is certainly one of them. The objective of the AEC is to facilitate the free flow of goods, services, skilled labour, etc. across the 10-nation grouping and one of the areas of cooperation includes human resources development and capacity building. This is precisely what PrimeStaff offers and the AEC bodes well for our regional expansion plans. In the meantime, we will continue growing our own talent pool and refining our systems and processes so that we will be in a prime position to seize AEC opportunities when they arise.

Annie Yap

Managing Director

AYP Associates Pte Ltd

With the formation of the Asean Economic Community, there are numerous benefits that would be created for the region. By having a single market and production base, it will enable Asean to become a highly competitive economic region. We are already seeing positive response from countries such as Japan, where there has been an increase in Japanese direct investment to Asean, as well as from countries such as China and US. The increase in investments will mean increased demand for manpower as the companies grow. To gear up for the AEC, AYP Group is looking to further expand into the Asean region as the demand for manpower translates to business opportunities for us as an executive recruitment firm. By having physical offices in each of the country, we will be able to better understand our clients' requirements and culture.

Sam Yap

Group Executive Chairman and

Co-Founder of Htwo Education Holdings Pte Ltd

The AEC will transform Asean into a region with free movement of goods, services, investment, skilled labour and free flow of capital. Though it would have great potential for businesses, I think it will take some time before the objective of AEC can be realised. Each member country is at different level of readiness to embrace this "single larger market" concept .

Htwo Education Holdings will be following up to see how we can tap the opportunities. I see potential in the more prepared economies with infrastructure for the setting up of our educational services for the Asean community. We already have business presence and experience in some of the Asean countries - like Malaysia, Indonesia, Cambodia and Vietnam - and would like to expand these businesses and also in other parts of Asean where feasible. However in the field of education, issues like accreditation of qualifications is something that the AEC must address in its overall objective to ensure consistency and maintenance of quality and standards.

To help especially smaller businesses to benefit from the AEC, perhaps there should be contact points in each member country where businesses can go to for information and assistance in taking their business across the Asean region.

Rosalynn Tay

CEO

Dentsu Aegis Network Singapore

In many aspects, Singapore is a phenomenal success story. With virtually no natural resources and a small population, Singapore has become one of the wealthiest countries in the world. Contributing to its dynamic economic performance, Singapore has also launched numerous initiatives with an emphasis on meritocracy. Quality education has been supplemented by a focus on the development of critical and creative thinking, to allow creative and media agencies to ride on and establish our business in a robust and developing market. It provides a platform for us to lead and be the regional communications hub for many local, regional and global brands. Our portfolio of diverse employees and clients has allowed us to achieve employer of choice, thus giving us the edge to grow our business in the private and public sectors within a year.