Credit Suisse currently manages over US$25 billion (Bt773 billion) worth of sustainable assets for their clients globally, with small fraction valued at $1.5 billion (Bt46.38 billion) located in Asia. This leaves a huge potential for growth in this investment niche for the Asia Pacific region, he said.

With environmental concerns are growing, investors are seeking more sustainable assets that at the same time, do not compromise on their returns. Bilkes aims to capture this trend and offer investment solutions to his clients at Credit Suisse through impact investing.

Globally, the value of assets under management is now around $88 trillion (Bt2,721,000 trillion), Bilkes said. However, there is an under-investment in sustainable assets, with impact investing only valued at around half a trillion, he said.

Over 1,340 organisations currently manage $502 billion (Bt15.52 trillion) in assets from impact investment worldwide, according to the report, “Sizing the Impact Investing Market”, published by the Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN).

The US and Canada make up 58 per cent of the total impact investing assets in the report, followed by western, northern and southern Europe at 21 per cent. Meanwhile, East Asia only account for 2 per cent of worldwide total impact investing assets.

In a separate GIIN survey on the investment returns of impact investing, the majority of respondents reported that their portfolio performance overwhelmingly meets or exceeds investor expectations for social and environmental impact as well as financial return, in investments spanning from emerging markets to developed markets.

The survey asked 216 impact investors worldwide about their impact investing assets, with 15 per cent reporting that their investments were outperforming, 82 per cent were in line and 3 per cent were underperforming. Meanwhile, in a survey asking 218 regular financial investors about their assets, 15 per cent reported that their investments were outperforming, 76 per cent were in line and up to 9 per cent underperforming.

In The Asia Pacific region in particular, the private banks are seeing the transition of wealth from the older generation to the newer generation, many of whom have been educated in Western countries, Bilkes noted.

“Newer-generation investors are becoming more interested in investment opportunities in sustainable assets. It has always been our priority to align the interest of our clients with their portfolio,” he said.

Impact investing activities at Credit Suisse, Bilkes said, include investments in small and medium-sized businesses with a social or environmental mission, and the development of financial products such as those designed to support smallholder farmers and high-potential students in developing countries.

To achieve that, the region’s private and public sectors must work together to enhance economic connectivity between the different CLMVT countries, Prayut said yesterday during the CLMVT forum 2019.

The total trade value of all CLMVT countries stood at US$951 billion (Bt29.2 trillion) in 2017, while intra-Asean trade was only valued at $75 billion (Bt2.3 trillion), according to the Thai Commerce Ministry.

“These figures demonstrate that there is still a large potential for intra-regional cooperation for CLMVT countries,” said acting Commerce Minister Chutima Bunyapraphasara.

The subregion, she said, is a fast-growing region with a combined GDP growth of 5.06 per cent in 2017, higher than the world’s GDP growth of 3.15 per cent in the same year.

With this trend, the CLMVT subregion is likely to experience significant growth in business cooperation and foreign direct investment, she said.

“To enhance connectivity in the region, cross-border transportation is being continuously developed and various projects have been included formally as part of the Asean Economic Community’s connectivity plan,” Chutima stated.

One such infrastructure development which is near completion is the trilateral highway, which will connect Moreh in India with Mae Sot in Thailand through Myanmar, she said.

Construction of the highway by India and Thailand has been completed, while Myanmar expects their part of the job to be finished in the next two years.

In 2017, foreign direct investment into CLMVT countries stood at $31.9 billion, a year-on-year growth of 28 per cent, according to the Thai Commerce Ministry.

Once the infrastructure projects are complete, the subregion will be able to attract even more foreign direct investments, especially into its special economic zones, Chutima claimed.

Other cross-border infrastructure projects include the East-West economic corridor, which will connect the South China Sea with the Indian Ocean through Vietnam, Laos, Thailand and Myanmar; the North-South economic corridor connecting Kunming in China with Central Thailand through Laos, and the Southern Economic Corridor which will connect the Andaman Sea with the Gulf of Thailand.

These projects are well underway, Chutima said, not revealing the date for completion for each of the projects.

The increased infrastructural connectivity will also be supported by an improvement to the region’s soft infrastructure, such as deregulating customs clearance to allow for more seamless movement of goods across the different CLMVT countries, she added. Pan Sorasak, Cambodia’s Commerce Minister stated: “The CLMVT countries have set up special economic zones across their borders to enhance connectivity and boost investment in the subregion. What we have to do next is to continue our efforts to improve the transportation infrastructure between these zones to enhance regional connectivity.”

This will be able to reduce the transportation cost for businesses and increase the ease of doing business across the subregion, he explained.

Meanwhile, Laos’ Minister of Industry, Khemmani Pholsena, said: “With the prolonged trade tensions having an adverse impact on the exports of all CLMVT countries, the subregion must look inwards to initiate more regional cooperation and rely less on exports.”

However, she said, the subregion currently faces the challenge of rising non-tariff measures erected by the CLMVT countries. This hinders trade and discourages cross-border cooperation between companies in the subregion’s private sector.

While the trade leaders of the CLMVT countries have outlined their vision of regional cooperation, the subregion’s internal trade volume is dwindling at an alarming speed. The rate of growth in bilateral trade between Thailand and Vietnam, the subregion’s two largest economies grew by only 1.39 per cent year-on-year in the first five months of this year (valued at $7.5 billion), compared to the same period last year, which saw a 16.86 per cent growth (valued at $7.2 billion), according to the Thai customs department.

A similar downtrend is seen in Thai trade with Myanmar and Cambodia, both plunging in growth rate to under 2 per cent in the first five months of the year, from about 20 per cent for the same period year on year.

The most worrying signs are in Thai-Laos trade, which was valued at $2.6 billion in the first five months this year, a reduction from $2.9 billion in the same period last year. This marks a 10 per cent year-on-year contraction in trade value between the two countries.

They are: “Scoo Pup”, led by Kamonrose Mahattanasomboon and Arisara Taksavaja; “Marshmallow”, led by Virapong Promarach and Pornpak Lertmukda; and “Poonpoon and Rok”, led by Thee Khanthavit and Kajornphan Sumpownoi.

The three qualified teams will receive Bt40,000 in cash prize each, as well as an opportunity to demonstrate their work at the Hong Kong International Licensing Show 2020 in January next year.

The event was held recently by the Ministry of Culture and TACGA.

Hong Kong International Licensing Show has been held consecutively for 17 years, attracting over 20,000 visitors yearly and with more than 350 companies exhibiting 800 brands of digital content, characters and licensing products.

Veerathai Santiprabhob, governor of the Bank of Thailand, and Sonexay Sitphaxay, governor of the Bank of the Lao PDR, put their names to the document.

The MoU serves as a solid foundation for effective cooperation in the supervision of banking organisations operating in both countries, in accordance with the principles set out in the Basel Core Principles for Effective Banking Supervision, they said.

It sets out in greater detail the process that the two authorities will follow to foster greater cooperation in the areas of information-sharing, on-site examinations, supervisory colleges, and crisis management.

Currently, there are seven Thai commercial banks operating in Laos, one as a subsidiary bank and the other six as foreign bank branches, with eight branches in total.

There is one representative office of a Lao bank operating in the Kingdom.

The contraction is largely influenced by global factors including ongoing trade tensions between US and China and tighter global financial conditions, and specific factors of each country and region such as, political uncertainty in the EU.

However, the effects on Thai exports are relatively less than those on other Asian countries. Thai exports still performed sturdily in main markets namely US and India and expanded in rising markets such as Canada, Russia and CIS.

In addition, Thai exports registered continual growth in agricultural products, especially food, and witnessed market diversification in China, Asean, US, Taiwan and Hong Kong.

Prominent growth products are fresh, frozen and processed fruits and vegetables, fresh, frozen and processed chicken, and beverages – which mostly are products that generate income for farmers and SMEs and help support Thai local economy.

Major important industrial products that are expanding are motorcycles and components, radio, telegraph, telephone and television, watches and components that has seen a continuous expansion since the end of last year.

For the first five months of 2019, Thai exports declined 2.7 per cent.

Amidst challenging trade situation, tailoring marketing strategies to specific markets, promoting potential new products and enhancing trade cooperation in the region will help expand export opportunities in many markets and products.

Supporting Factors for Thailand exports in May 2019 are positive brand image, proactive export strategies customised to specific area, opportunity from being alternative suppliers for products under trade war, and upward trend of global oil prices.

However, Challenging External Factors for Thailand exports in 2019 are unresolved trade disputes between US and China, exchange rate volatility, trade policy uncertainty and new FTAs which will enter into force this year. These might affect Thailand’s trade competitiveness.

Export Markets

Thai Exports to most markets still contracted owing to global trade slowdown and unsettled disputes between US and China. These ongoing situations form tension and uncertain trade environment which conceivably weaken Thai exports and global economy including Thai trading partners.

However, Thai exports grew in US, Brunei and India as a result of market diversification. Meanwhile, exports to main markets declined 1.2 per cent. While exports to Japan contracted by 4.4 per cent and exports to the EU contracted 8.6 per cent, exports to the US still increased at 7.8 per cent. High potential market contracted by 7.0 per cent as a result of exports to Asean-5, CLMV and China which declined by 14.3, 4.7 and 7.2 per cent, respectively.

However, exports to India and South Korea continued to expand at 4.4 and 4.7 per cent, respectively. For the second tier market, exports decreased 7.2 per cent. Exports to Australia, the Middle East and Latin America shrank by 17.0, 6.1 and 1.8 per cent, whereas those to CIS and Canada began to expand at 6.6 per cent and 11.0 per cent.

​Ministry of Commerce prepare and propel the export strategies for 2019 by driving trade in parallel with investment and services policies. These include customised strategies by areas, expanding export opportunities in strong markets, namely the US, India and CLMV countries as well as opening up new markets that have seen signs of continuous growth such as Russia and Canada.

In addition, MOC focuses on products with high growth and potential to substitute products under trade war such as agricultural products, fisheries and food (fresh and processed), chicken.

The Ministry also promotes rising-star products such as motorcycles and parts, watches and components, beverages, cosmetics and skincare products by utilising their good reputation and high-quality standards. In this time of exchange rate fluctuation, exporters should manage risks and make long term contract to secure transactions and minimise trade-war induced uncertainty.