ASEAN regulators have taken on a number of initiatives to reduce costs of businesses through the support of greater connectivity, mutual recognition agreements and greater cohesiveness of rules and regulations. Additionally, usage of local currencies as a means of payment and settlement will facilitate our intra-region trade and investment. Common infrastructures for cross border payment and settlement such as through the Asian Payment Network are important to increasing efficiency of doing businesses and reducing costs of remittances and transfers. If we all work together in our various capacities we can together strengthen our region and improve ASEAN people’s standards of living. Ladies and Gentlemen, To sum up, I strongly believe that bankers play a critical role in the future of ASEAN economies and people’s lives. ASEAN banks, given their large scale and power of intellectual and capital resources, must be the force that drives our region forward and improve people’s quality of lives. During this period of VUCA world and changes in economic environment with technology disrupting business landscapes, we must focus on longer term goals. Working together, ASEAN banks must commit to strengthening our regional growth and to ensuring 5  sustainable development. Instilling proper behaviours and cultures into the organization and practicing sustainable banking will strengthen us from within. Looking at today’s agenda, I am delighted that ASEAN bankers will engage and work together to find ways to meaningfully impact our region on issues ranging from digital and fintech to sustainable finance.
Compared to ten years ago, global growth has been relatively subdued, with no significant pickup in sight. The latest IMF economic forecast puts global growth next year at 3.4 percent, a slight improvement from a disappointing 3.1 percent this year. Slow growth momentum is most pronounced in the core advanced economies, with 1.8 percent forecast for 2017. Yet, while this state of the “new mediocre” is more often associated with the advanced economies, there is risk that some emerging countries including ASEAN countries will sooner or later experience it as well due to spill-over effects and domestic structural constraints. The spill-over effects of the "new mediocre" go beyond the growth dimension, but well into the realm of financial stability. Given the low-interest rate and low-yield in advanced economies, investors have shifted their portfolios to many emerging economies including ASEAN in search of higher yielding financial assets. This “search-for-yield” behaviours with capital inflows, rise in asset prices, and higher debt ratio have already resulted in pockets of financial vulnerabilities in many countries. Yet the “new mediocre” is not only impacting the stability of the financial system and economic growth, but is also catalysing social tensions and geo-political changes. As Christine Lagarde said at this year's IMF annual meeting, global economic growth has been “too low, for too long, and benefiting too few.” 1  Across a spectrum of countries not only is the growth low, but it is also not inclusive, particularly for people at the lower end.