KUALA LUMPUR, March 15 — The Asean Capital Markets Forum (ACMF), which marks its 20th anniversary this year, convened its 40th ACMF Chairs’ Meeting today, hosted by the Lao Securities Commission Office (LSCO).

It said the meeting noted the implementation status of the ACMF Roadmap for Asean Sustainable Capital Markets (2020-2025) or the ACMF Roadmap, with progress of the 15 ACMF Roadmap Recommendations expected to be over 90 per cent within 2024.

“The ACMF likewise looks forward to commencing the end-term assessment of the ACMF Action Plan 2021-2025 and development of the next version of the ACMF Action Plan 2026-2030,” it said in a statement.

The Asean Green, Social, Sustainability and Sustainability-Linked Bond Standards were introduced in 2017, 2018 and 2022, respectively.

As at February 12, 2024, US$47.46 billion (RM223 billion) Asean-labelled bonds/sukuk have been issued, said ACMF.

Meanwhile, the meeting reaffirmed its continuing support for the work of the Asean Taxonomy Board (ATB), including the development of Version 3 of the Asean Taxonomy, as the ATB works to complete the technical screening criteria of the taxonomy’s focus sectors in phases.

To this end, the ACMF decided to re-appoint the Brunei Darussalam Central Bank and Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) as the ACMF’s representatives for the ATB’s membership term from March 31, 2024, until March 30, 2026.

The meeting, among others, also continued its ongoing collaboration with the IFRS-International

Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) with a high-level dialogue between the two bodies on the development of sustainability reporting in the region.

It also continued its networking and exchange of experiences on Digital Assets by members.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore updated its regulatory measures for Digital Payment Token Services in Singapore; while the SC provided an update on Digital Asset Market Developments in Malaysia.

The ACMF is a high-level grouping of capital market regulators from all 10 Asean jurisdictions, namely Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.

The ACMF is currently chaired by the Lao LSCO and the next ACMF chair will be the SC.

More information on the ACMF and its initiatives can be found on the ACMF website at www.theacmf.org. — Bernama