UBS launched its inaugural Global Macro Forum in Singapore, attracting more than 150 investors and policy makers

Singapore, 1 June 2023 – UBS launched its inaugural Global Macro Forum in Singapore, bringing more than 150 world renowned corporate leaders, policy makers and institutional investors to discuss the latest investment trends and economic outlook. There was a stellar line up of strong international keynote speakers at the UBS Global Macro Forum, featuring Bill Dudley, Former President and CEO, Federal Reserve Bank of New York, and Masazumi Wakatabe, Former Deputy Governor, Bank of Japan, who shared their views on the latest macroeconomic outlook for the remaining half of 2023 and beyond.

Edmund Koh, President APAC, UBS said: “Asia Pacific is a key growth region for UBS and we are proud to host our first Global Macro Forum in Singapore. We estimate that growth in Asia is likely to outpace developed markets and investors could potentially benefit from Asia’s relative strength. Within Asian equities, investors are likely to find investment opportunities in Asian financials, utilities, telecoms and consumer discretionary sectors. Against a backdrop of volatile macroeconomic conditions, it was encouraging to see the strong interest in Asia as a key investment destination from global and regional market participants.”

Eric Li, Head of Global Markets ASEAN, UBS said: “ASEAN remains a key market for investors’ portfolios and it has been offering differentiated opportunities amidst global macroeconomic volatilities. Global inflation has surged upward over the past couple of years. However, we’ve seen that for ASEAN as a whole, inflation has moderated recently. Moving forward, investors may start to focus on possible easing moves by central banks and investment opportunities in equities and fixed income across the region.”

Nicolo Magni, Head of Global Banking, South-East Asia & India, UBS said: “Within Asean, we have seen substantial M&A activity in the first half of the year. We had a more constructive accelerated placements market and delivered on a few landmark IPOs such as PT Merdeka Battery Materials in Indonesia. As we enter the second half of 2023, we expect a strong pipeline in M&A in sectors like Digital Infrastructure and the Financial Institutions Group. We will also continue to bring to market interesting companies on the themes of re-opening and fundamental long-term thematics. Being a complex and dynamic region, economic activity and key signals to look out for will differ across the markets. We see no signs of weakness in ASEAN labour markets, which in turn will bolster consumer sentiment and consumption growth. Tourism recovery also continues to drive important segments of these markets.”

The conference covered a wide range of panel discussions from thought leaders on whether the US might be entering a period of recession or stagflation, the way ahead for China, new BOJ central bank policy and the impact on Asian assets for the rest of the year.

Some of the speakers at the Global Macro Forum 2023 included:

• Bill Dudley, Member of Board, UBS; Former President and CEO, Federal Reserve Bank of New York
• Dr. Julia Coronado, President and Founder, Macropolicy Perspectives
• Prof. Masazumi Wakatabe, Professor of Economics, Waseda University, Former Deputy Governor, Bank of Japan
• Bert Hofman, Director (East Asian Institute) and Professor in Practice and former World Bank Country Director for China
• Prof. Ian Goldin, Oxford University Professor of Globalisation and Development and the founding Director of the Oxford Martin School, Author and Former Economic Advisor to President Mandela

Earlier this week, UBS also organized its flagship OneAsean conference in Singapore, where over 500 corporates and industry leaders explored why Asean is a key investment destination for global investors. Some of the keynote speakers at the OneAsean conference included:

• YB Rafizi Ramli, Minister of Economy Malaysia
• Deni Ridwan, Directorate-General of Budget Financing and Risk Management, Ministry of Finance Indonesia
• Dr. Pisit Puapan, Executive Director, Macroeconomic Policy Bureau, Fiscal Policy Office, Ministry of Finance Thailand
• Dennis Lapid, Director of the Department of Economic Research, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas
• Dr. Greg Raymond, Senior Lecturer and Research Fellow, Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, Australian National University