ASIFMA-AFORE EU-Asia Dialogue

Networking Lunch

Opening Address

Peter Stein, Chief Executive Officer, ASIFMA

Welcome Remarks

Keynote Opening Address Day 1

Keynote Presentation

The Shifting Geopolitical Landscape

A scene-setting presentation examining the geopolitical forces shaping the competition for global capital.

Speaker: To be confirmed

Panel 1

The ASEAN Opportunity: Gateway to Asia’s Growth Markets

With the conference hosted in Bangkok, this panel turns its focus to the ASEAN region and its growing significance within the global capital landscape. Panellists will explore the opportunities and challenges across Southeast Asian markets, while also considering how ASEAN serves as a bridge to the broader Indian and Chinese markets.

Coffee Break

Panel 2

The CEO Perspective: Leadership Across Regional Markets

Governments across developed markets continue to increase debt issuances to finance their economies and deficits. Technology companies are raising huge amounts of cash through IPOs and debt issuances to finance their AI and data centre developments. Industrial and manufacturing companies are seeking to finance their transition to a mandatory greener production.   

Inflation is persistent across most jurisdictions and long-term interest rates keep inching higher, putting even more pressure on governments and long-term borrowers. What will then be left for emerging economies, still in need for large amounts of investments to finance the development of their infrastructures and raise their population average revenues? How will they get a slice in the allocation of global capital and at what cost?  And finally, how to unlock and put to work the huge (retail) savings reserves in this region? The panel will discuss the avenues to improve capital markets liquidity to facilitate optimal capital allocation and address the above challenges. 

Fireside Chat 1

Panel 3

Capital Markets’ Liquidity: A New Paradigm 

The concept of liquidity has evolved significantly with the emergence of new players, the development of new technologies and the change in the regulatory framework since the global financial crisis. 

The panel will discuss the drivers of liquidity and how it affects the way financial institutions conduct their business across the region.

Day 1 Closing Keynote Address

Cocktail Reception

(Spire Rooftop Bar)

Welcome Remarks

Peter Stein, Chief Executive Officer, ASIFMA

Opening Address Day 2

Panel 4

Competing for Global Capital in an Era of Economic Security 

As geopolitical tensions, economic security considerations, and strategic competition increasingly influence policy decisions, the global landscape for investment and capital formation is undergoing profound change. Governments are expanding investment screening regimes, reassessing market access, and introducing measures aimed at safeguarding critical industries and national interests, while investors are reevaluating portfolio allocation, market exposure, and location decisions in response to a more uncertain operating environment. Against this backdrop, financial centres are competing not only on market depth and efficiency, but also on regulatory certainty, openness, and resilience. This panel will examine how markets can continue to attract and retain global capital while balancing economic security objectives, preserving financial openness, and supporting sustainable long-term growth in an increasingly fragmented world. 

Coffee Break

Panel 5

The Digital Assets Ecosystem Shifting Into 2nd Gear: Stage Two, Layer Two, Me Too 

With the ever-expanding universe of digital asset product initiatives now including tokenised deposits, bonds, money market funds, repo, CBDCs, stablecoins and other financial and real-world assets across a wide range of market entities, competitive tensions are becoming an increasingly relevant factor: between firms’ own digitalisation initiatives and wider ecosystem growth, between free data movement and protection, and even between financial stability and promoting onshore innovation in rulemaking. How should financial institutions navigate this complexity across products, stakeholders and geographies, and which market and regulatory strategies will optimally ensure that both individual firms and the wider ecosystem mutually benefit? This panel will explore these questions, focusing on how current competitive market dynamics can be harnessed, catalysed and translated into future growth and success.

Fireside Chat 2

Panel 6

The Listings Challenge: Winning the Competition for Capital

As markets around the world compete to attract issuers, investors, and trading activity, policymakers and exchanges are pursuing reforms to strengthen the competitiveness of their public markets. From revitalising IPOs and expanding retail participation to enhancing corporate governance and listing frameworks, jurisdictions are seeking ways to remain attractive in the face of growing competition from private capital markets. This panel will compare developments across APAC and Europe examining what it takes to attract international issuers, deepen liquidity, and ensure public markets remain a compelling destination for global capital.  

Closing Remarks

Peter Stein, Chief Executive Officer, ASIFMA

Networking Lunch