Invest ASEAN, Maybank’s flagship annual event, was jointly organised this year with Bursa Malaysia’s Invest Malaysia in conjunction with Malaysia’s chairmanship of ASEAN. Themed “Driving ASEAN Integration through Malaysia’s Economic Resilience — Capital, Collaboration, Connections”, the event in Kuala Lumpur on 30 June to 3 July saw participation from 1,500 delegates, including institutional investors with a combined AUM of USD13.6tr.

The event also featured 71 PLCs from across ASEAN and India with a combined market value of USD383b which hared their business strategies and outlook with investors. YB Senator Datuk Seri Amir Hamzah Azizan, Malaysia’s Minister of Finance II, delivered the Keynote Address.

Malaysia 2H25 Outlook & Lookouts

2H25 might be even more fluid amid recent Middle Eastern conflicts coupled with on-going tariff negotiations and supply chain disruption plus domestic policy changes.

Forget ROI. How's your ROSI?

Tensie Whelan, Clinical Professor of Business and Society, NYU Stern School of Business is the esteemed speaker for this talk. ESG drives better financial performance yet many people still argue the business case. Why? Professor Whelan talks candidly about the challenges in ESG investing and what is preventing most companies from monetising the return on sustainability investment. She provides her unique take on how to implement sustainability reporting and measurement in NUY Stern's proprietary model called Return on Sustainability Investment (ROSI).

10 Post-Pandemic Realities Facing ASEAN

We highlight 10 macro post-pandemic realities: [1] ASEAN manufacturing and exports are contracting, but services are resilient; [2] US may not be in recession yet, but ASEAN exports to US are; [3] China's reopening has not boosted ASEAN exports; [4] China's tourists are returning to ASEAN, more quickly than expected; [5] ASEAN services exports are rebounding; [6] ASEAN's reopening boost is fading, with only weak tailwinds left in hospitality, food and construction; [7] ASEAN real commodity exports are resilient, despite falling commodity prices; [8] manufacturing supply chains are gravitating towards ASEAN; [9] ASEAN headline inflation is falling sharply, but core inflation is sticky; [10] ASEAN central banks are done with tightening.

Malaysia: Shifting Into Higher Gear

Compared to the relatively downbeat assessment of Malaysia's broad ESG positioning as articulated in our maiden Compendium ("Sustainability: No longer optional", dated April 8), the last 18 months has seen a sharp acceleration in Sustainability initiatives by government, regulators and corporates alike. Crucially, these stepped-up measures, disclosures and targets demonstrate rising cohesion and integration across stakeholders, significantly increasing the chances of successful execution as well as the creation of a positive feedback loop.

China's Belt & Road: "Small But Beautiful"

China's decade-old Belt & Road ambitions have scaled back to build "small but beautiful" projects, according to the latest NDRC Annual Plan tabled at the National People's Congress. China's reopening will revive investments into ASEAN after 3 years of slumber due to the pandemic and lockdowns.