The meeting of ministers of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation group preceded the Apec Economic Leaders’ meeting, which takes place today and tomorrow.
Alan Bollard, executive director of the Apec Secretariat, said in a statement: “The need for a new, progressive direction for globalisation and trade that opens up job creation, enhances social mobility and increases wages is up against a diminishing appetite for policies that could foster this outcome.”
Apec’s 21 economies are home to 3 billion people and account for half of global trade, and its push for freer trade has made the region more prosperous in recent decades.
But there is a sense that the prosperity is not evenly felt among some segments of the population – especially those left behind by disruptive technology. It has fuelled anti-globalisation sentiments and the rise of political leaders opposed to opening up trade, the most recent of whom is US President-elect Donald Trump.

The Trump shock is big, extending well beyond the US. For more than a week now, there has been a flood of commentaries discussing what the US president-elect’s Asian policy will look like and the probable winners and losers.
Lots of commentators said that as part of the Obama legacy, the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), an initiative the United States joined to lead in 2008, is a loser.
At the same time, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) — allegedly a China-led initiative — is described as a winner.
A forgotten fact is that neither of these free trade zone deals has really existed. The TPP was originally an agreement of four countries, Brunei, Chile, New Zealand and Singapore, in 2005. It was not until 2008 that Australia, Canada, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Peru, the US and Vietnam joined the discussion for a broader agreement.
The final proposal was signed by heads of state from the 12 countries in February this year in Auckland, New Zealand. A comprehensive 30-chapter agreement was awaiting ratification when the US presidential campaign started.
Candidates from both parties opposed the deal, Trump being the fiercer critic.
One salient feature of the TPP is its exclusion of China and India. And it does not include all members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations — for instance, Indonesia and Thailand are left out.
Although no one said openly that China is not welcome, officials of the Obama administration took it at least in part as a political instrument, and repeatedly said (including Obama himself) that it would allow the US, not China, to write the rules for free trade.
But perhaps it is this added political purpose, chased by a government in haste (during the second term of the Obama administration), that will prove to be the TPP’s undoing.
After Trump’s election victory, the Obama administration announced it would no longer try to get the TPP approved by Congress.
An economic deal encumbered with excessive expectations can easily break. Too much unrelated significance attached to a deal can leave the dealmaker distracted and unready.

Considering capacity issues, the challenge posed by residential storage deployment and distributed generation like solar photovoltaics (PV), plus pressures from regulators after COP 21 – the climate accords signed in Paris last year – electricity distributors are under more pressure to change than ever before.
To put this into perspective, looking at load issues alone, because of continued implementation of energy-demand-disrupting technologies, Accenture research estimates that by 2025 utilities’ revenues could drop by up to $48 billion (Bt1.7 trillion) per year in the United States, and as much as 61 billion euros (Bt2.3 trillion) a year in Europe.
For utilities companies around the world, the need to adopt new distribution models is palpable. In fact, our recent research revealed that 45 per cent of utility executives worldwide found the traditional electricity-distribution model was no longer fit for purpose.
The question is: What is the model of the future?
To understand what industry models will be optimal going forward, it is helpful to look first at some of the strains facing the current one.
Historically, utilities have been remunerated by building systems that supported total demand for kilowatt-hours, despite the fact their costs are driven by peak load. The problem with this model is that it can be costly for utilities companies and customers alike, as distribution capacity must be built in to handle the peaks. Even with more “prosumers” generating their own energy, peak demand has proved decidedly more resilient than total demand.
Managing demand is always a challenge for electricity distributors, but it’s far from the only one. PV generation is becoming far more mainstream, and with tariff and net metering price incentives, more and more consumers are investing in “beyond-the-meter” storage. Peak pricing can also drive customer deployment of standalone storage, to manage electricity costs, as can falling up-front investments.
Given the looming challenges facing distribution businesses operating in the current industry model, adoption of a new model should aim to manage peak load effectively through demand-response tools. It should also incorporate investment in storage capacity “in front of the meter” to bring greater flexibility in managing the network.
This is already well underway – our research revealed that more than three-quarters of utilities executives were already investing or expecting to invest in storage within the next 10 years.
The most advanced and comprehensive model that has emerged to solve these issues is that of the distribution platform optimiser, whereby digitally enabled operators will handle all elements end-to-end – including data-analytics-powered demand response, dynamic storage, and sophisticated, responsive pricing – to produce an optimal outcome for the whole system.
These operators will work with prosumers who have adopted residential distributed generation and storage to ensure they’re used to increased grid reliability. All components will be carefully aligned and integrated to help reduce costs, ensure reliability and level-out peaks in demand.
Furthermore, it is believed that the most successful distribution platform optimisers will need a high degree of location awareness to ensure tightly directed and effective demand response programmes that support network optimisation. This requires a new regulatory model that places greater importance on performance over capital, working in tangent with a deeper understanding of the grid’s operations and controls that comes from deployment of a digitally enabled grid.
Ultimately, the platform optimiser model can advance grid performance, including better asset management, delivery, efficiency and utilisation of distributed energy sources, and has the potential to create new revenue.
As the industry undergoes a major transformation, companies need immediately to assess the distribution platform optimiser model’s relevance to their business, and create a road map for implementation.
How are you going to plan for the future?

Pakorn Suriyabhivadh is senior manager, Accenture Resources, Accenture in Thailand.

James Cronk, global director, Financial Services Industry, at US-based Cisco, said the banking and financial-services sectors were now “transferring their legacy environment into digital transformation to support digital payment”.
Around 4.5 per cent of Thai banking customers currently use digital payment, a proportion that will rise significantly in the next few years, driven by the development of information-technology infrastructure and security, he said.
Cisco’s comprehensive economic analysis estimates that digital innovation in retail banking will drive US$405 billion (Bt14.4 trillion) in value globally from 2015 to 2017.
Last year, financial services as a whole captured just 29 per cent or $117 billion of that opportunity.
Moreover, more than 90 per cent of the potential value is driven by key digital-use cases, including sales and services transformation, next-generation workers, video-based advice, mobile payment and connected ads, Cronk said.
Cisco has six platforms and solutions to support digital transformation in financial services – customer experience, workforce experience, agile IT-fast IT, analytics and insights, cyber security and liability, and risk compliance and management – the global director said.
Having a road map to digital value in retail banking means banks will be positioned “to enable IT agility and operational effectiveness, create differentiation in their business strategies from those of competitors, and define disruptive new digital-enabled business processes”, he explained.
Vatsun Thirapatarapong, managing director of Cisco in Thailand and Indochina, said the ratio of digital-banking users in Thailand would increase to 10 per cent of all banking users in the next three years, due to the popularity of using e-payment among generation-Z individuals, the usage of mobile first/cloud first, as well as start-ups developing fintech (financial technology) solutions to support digital payment.
Moreover, IDC has reported that consumers expect banks to deliver highly personalised hi-tech services coupled with the convenience of anytime, anywhere.
This group of consumers is growing and accounted for about 4.5 per cent of banking customers in the Asia-Pacific last year, according to the global IT market-intelligence firm, which expects the segment to grow to about 15 per cent by 2020.
Meanwhile, the Bank of Thailand has reported that there are currently around 12.9 million users of mobile banking in the Kingdom. The value of Thailand’s online retail market is expected to reach $10 billion-$15 billion by 2020, up from less than $2 billion last year, the central bank said.
The mobile penetration rate reached almost 87 per cent of the population, with smart-phone penetration at 50 per cent, while 50 per cent of all online transactions are done via mobile devices, it added. E-payments are expected to surge from Bt68.2 billion last year to Bt143 billion in 2020.
Moreover, Thailand is entering in the first stage of the government’s national e-payment policy and, when the e-payment system is fully operational next year, the estimated cost savings for banks and businesses will be around Bt75 billion per year, the Bank of Thailand said.
The Thai Bankers’ Association’s Payment System Office has agreed on a new fee structure, which will lower the cost of digital banking.

Duangporn Rodphaya, director-general of the department, said rice exports should continue to grow steadily as |many countries had shown strong interest in importing more rice before the |New Year.
“Countries that want to import rice under G2G contracts include Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia and China,” she said, adding that China would negotiate for a second 1-million-tonne lot of rice imports in the near future.
Malaysia is expected to import about 400,000 tonnes of rice from Thailand this year, more than last year when it bought about 300,000 tonnes.
According to the department, between January 1 and November 2, Thailand shipped a total of 8.4 million tonnes of rice.
Meanwhile, the Commerce Ministry will announce a new export standard for Hom Mali (jasmine) rice, dividing it into three grades, in order to ensure export growth in all markets.
Duangporn said the new standard would be announced on December 20.
“The new export standard will be drawn up to increase trading value and volume of Thai jasmine rice after Thailand lost some share of this market to other countries,” she said.
The new standard will better serve the differing needs of consumers in various export markets. Some markets may prefer a high-quality grade of jasmine rice regardless of the price, while others will go for lower grades because of their consumers’ lower purchasing power.
The new standard should also prevent the problem of rice traders mixing Hom Mali rice with other lower-quality rice grains, resulting in a bad reputation for Thai jasmine rice.
Under the planned revision, exports of jasmine rice must contain only 8 per cent husk rice to be certified as high-grade by the ministry. The other two lower-grade classifications will be 80 and 70 per cent jasmine rice.

“It is undeniable that the sales and circulation of newspapers are plummeting and there is also softness in advertising spending via traditional media because of the birth of new media and changes in the behaviour of media consumers in the last couple of years,” Thepchai Yong, president of the Confederation of Thai Journalists, said on Wednesday.
“This has had a massive impact on media businesses like we have never encountered before. Therefore, it is the right time to review and change our role,” said Thepchai, who also editor-in-chief of Nation Multimedia Group.
The seminar on how to survive in the digital age or “Media 4.0” was co-organised by the Foundation of Professor Bumrongsook Siha-Umphai on Communication Arts in collaboration with the faculty of communication arts of Chulalongkorn University and Nitade Chula Alumni. Since the arrival of online media, the role of mainstream media has diminished in importance both to individual audiences and society in general because online users are able to be serve as news reporters or content generators.
Kanokporn Prachayaset, the head of media solutions at Sanook Online, said that apart from mainstream media, online portal sites were also challenged by user-generated content, particularly content producers who were eager to get high traffic from viewers for commercial benefits without any responsibility to society.
“Being a good medium is always a tough job. So we need content verification in place,” Kanokporn stressed.
Media scholar Chumpol Rodkhamdee, who is chairman of the policy committee at Thai Public Broadcasting Service (Thai PBS), said social-media networks granted freedom of speech and expression to all users but, unlike professional traditional media, had no self-regulation.
Therefore, mainstream media should educate and enlighten consumers about how to verify content properly before sharing it with others. In the meantime, professional media should jointly promote the prevention of plagiarism, Chumpol urged.
“Mainstream media will cease to exist if it cannot maintain accountability, responsibility and trust,” he said. PM’s Office Minister ML Panadda Diskul suggested that Thai media should maintain their role as a key compass for society to bring back common happiness, understanding and unity.

While prices continue to rise, the rental yield has dropped with competing units for rent and resale. The time for a quick profit from the resale of newly launched units has, in many cases, passed.
The residential-sales market for investors will now be far more driven by the underlying demand from tenants, and a more rigorous understanding of rental returns, as well as the potential for future capital gains.
For high-net-worth individuals (HNWI) who have funds to invest in residential properties, there are more options, but they should consider which property would be the right one to buy.
They should consider those that not only generate good returns, but also consume less time when managing the investment portfolio.
Investors may be tempted to buy units in older buildings because of their lower price per square metre and higher rental yields, but with other choices in the market, my guidance for HNWI is to look at newer properties as a primary investment. Generally, older properties require additional expenditure on top of the purchase price.
There could be additional payments required to upgrade common areas, and the interior of these units may need significant expenditure on renovation. Additionally, older properties are currently more illiquid if investors want to resell.
It is my guidance that HNWI should buy units within the luxury to super-luxury categories in prime downtown areas. If one has long-term funds to invest for five to 10 years, this option has proved to be the right choice.
Even though prices have skyrocketed over the past 10 years, there is a very limited supply of prime freehold land left within the downtown area. As a result, the projection is that the value of well-designed and well-maintained downtown luxury and super-luxury projects will only increase over time, albeit at a slower and steadier rate than in the past five to 10 years.
Demand for these types of properties should remain steady from both affluent Thai buyers and international buyers. An example of this is The Sukhothai Residences, as it has generated consistent rental yields of 3-4 per cent, and an average of 6-per-cent capital appreciation per annum since its completion in 2011.
Though luxury products also come with higher common-area management fees, the yield from a luxury project in a prime location should cover the maintenance costs and still provide good and consistent returns.
Buying hotel- or serviced-apartment-branded residences that have rental management programmes or rental guarantees has become more and more popular among HNWI. They are hassle-free investment options with consistent rental yields.
Branded hotels or serviced apartments not only provide advantages of reliable property management, but tenancy management as well. Investors do not need to deal with maintaining and renting out the unit.
In the past, we were familiar with these products in resort locations such as Phuket.
Today, there is a growing interest in launching these types of products in Bangkok, such as The Park at Em District by Ascott.
Performance of Bangkok serviced apartments has been consistent, with average rentals of Bt1,000 per square metre. Branded serviced apartments command a premium rent over unbranded and non-serviced condominium projects in the same area.
London is still the most popular location for overseas property investments by Thai HNWI.
Despite Brexit and a higher stamp duty of 3 per cent, buyers’ appetites remain strong and investors remain active.
After UK citizens voted to leave the European Union, the favourable baht-pound exchange rate has presented an opportunity for Thai investors looking to purchase properties in prime locations in London. Thai investors are able to take advantage of discounts of up to 20 per cent due to the weaker pound as compared with pre-Brexit values.
Thai HNWI should focus on quality rather than quantity when it comes to residential-property investments. It would be better to buy a few good properties rather than a larger number of more average-quality properties.
Historically, quality properties have always outperformed the rest of the market, both in Bangkok and London.