Services Sector Has Important Role In AEC, Says HSBC Malaysia

KUALA LUMPUR, March 2 (Bernama) -- The services sector will play an important role in integrating the regional economy when the Asean Economic Community (AEC) is fully implemented, says HSBC Bank Malaysia Bhd Chief Executive Officer Mukhtar Hussain. In a statement Wednesday, he said the sector will boost the need for experienced workers in sectors like finance and logistics. By nurturing a healthy services sector, he said, the AEC will help ASEAN’s transition into a wealthier region by increasing the mobility of skilled labour to ensure that expertise in the services sector is efficiently allocated across the region, as well as to increase the likelihood that professionals will be able to spend part of their career working abroad. Mukhtar said the increased use of financial services is an important contributor to growing prosperity, with people utilising a broader range of products and making increasingly diverse investments. "Insurance helps illustrate this point," he said, noting that in many emerging markets, the savings rate is high as people put money aside to guard against unemployment or a severe illness. He said as countries become richer, people are more likely to take out an insurance policy to reduce the impact of life’s mishaps, which results in a fall in saving rates, freeing up cash that can now be spent on discretionary items. "The newly-established AEC lays the foundation for continued economic prosperity in ASEAN by helping the region’s growing middle class effectively manage their finances as savers, consumers and eventually investors. "As the region becomes richer, its increased wealth will have a positive impact on the global economy, making it in everyone’s interests that the new trade deal succeeds," he added. -- BERNAMA