ASEAN's Leading Sustainability-First Investment Bank

Outperforming Regional and Global Benchmarks

ASEAN as a whole has seen relative outperformance YTD, mainly underpinned by i) accelerating, broad economic reopening, supporting corporate earnings and GDP recovery; ii) predominantly old economy-dominated equity markets that have seen their valuation attractions boosted by years of relative underperformance & deflated foreign ownership, and iii) a comparatively less aggressive multi-speed monetary policy normalisation & tightening.

Our ASEAN country heads of research remain constructive on the market upside, especially as 1Q22 reporting has generally delivered on expectations of a sharp earnings rebound post-economic reopening.

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Indonesia - Point of No Return

Going forward, we believe ESG-friendly policies are no longer optional for the government. This has become more important for the government, especially given Indonesia's need for major investments to boost economic growth, which was stagnant at c.5% in 2015-19

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ASEAN Increasingly Complementary with China

In 2020, for the first time since China's reforms, ASEAN became its largest trading partner, while the EU is second, followed by the US.

With rising wages, the US-China trade and tech war, as well as China's rapid industrial upgrading, ASEAN has become increasingly complementary with China.

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