DDCAP sponsored and attended the 7th edition of the WIBC Capital Markets Summit Asia (WIBC Asia 2019). Convened by Middle East Global Advisors, WIBC Asia 2019 was held in strategic partnership with the Singapore Exchange (SGX) on 1 & 2 July at the SGX Auditorium in Singapore. The forum was well attended and covered a series of discussions on “Strengthening Investment Outlook through Robust Capital Markets”. DDCAP Chief Representative for our Malaysian office, Roslan Ahmed, spoke as a panellist during the session titled ‘Fintech: Implications for Capital Markets ’.
In his keynote address, Richad Soundardjee, Chief Executive Officer, Société Générale Middle East, focusing on socially responsible investments stated that there is great opportunity and demand in GCC and potentially Asia for cross-fertilization with Asian market places. This could be achieved through Asian investors finding further opportunities to invest in the GCC as well as flows from the GCC to Asia, through the large amount of Islamically managed wealth in the GCC that can find a home in Asia for diversification purposes, especially in Asian economies that have already adopted both green and SRI investing, as well as Islamic finance.
The second day of the conference witnessed a keynote address by Yaseen Anwar, Senior Advisor, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) Singapore, and the former Governor of the Central Bank of Pakistan, which focused on the key drivers for growth in Asia for the next decade, with particular reference to overcoming “ Political, Economic and Sustainability challenges”. He also discussed the The Belt & Road Initiative (BRI) as a primary means of investment in the region.