In celebration of its 100th year of business education in the Philippines, the Cesar E.A. Virata School of Business (VSB), in cooperation with the ASEAN University Network for Business and Economics (AUN-BE), hosted a conference to discuss the impacts and prospects of the ASEAN integration in the region’s business and economic community.
The ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) integration will shape the future landscape of business in the region, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP/Central Bank of the Philippines) Gov. Amando M. Tetangco Jr. said at the opening of the 2016 International Conference on Business and Management (ICBM) on Jul. 14 at the Microtel by Wyndham, UP-Ayala Technohub.
Tetangco, guest speaker at the conference, further said, “Philippine lawmakers should be ready to assess the possible risks of the integration and propose solutions to mitigate the risks.”
He added that local banks should also be more adaptable by “bringing in new services and products but should be cognizant of how things can affect one another.” One major concern is the cyber security issue with the recent hacking incident involving the country and Bangladesh.
As BSP governor, Tetangco also chairs the Monetary Board, Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) and Philippine International Convention Center (PICC).
Meanwhile, Hans Brinker M. Sicat, Philippine Stock Exchange Inc. (PSE) President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) said, “the Philippine stock market experienced tremendous growth in the past five years.” He pointed though that this growth is still “far from those of our ASEAN neighbors like Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam.”
Sicat, who spoke at the conference’s closing on Jul. 15, highlighted the efforts of PSE in educating Filipinos about financial literacy and encouraging them to invest and to distinguish between legitimate and investment scams. He also acknowledged the newly-published VSB book, “Investment Management Setting in the Philippines (3rd Edition)”, launched at the closing ceremonies.
“The book will be a good reference material for all Filipinos – beginners and advance users, practitioners and non-practitioners,” Sicat said. He is also concurrent President and CEO of the Securities Clearing Corporation of the Philippines (SCCP).
The VSB-hosted ICBM from Jul. 13 to 15 had the theme “ASEAN Market Integration: Challenges and Opportunities.” VSB was formerly named UP College of Business Administration.
Thirty-six papers were presented at the 2-day conference proper from participants from the Philippines, Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Hong Kong and India. Topics discussed ranged from human resources management, marketing management, finance, entrepreneurship and government-owned and controlled corporations.
Concurrent with the conference was the 2016 ASEAN University Network for Business and Economics (AUN-BE) Cluster Annual Network Meeting. Network officials and representatives from member universities in Philippines, Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand attended the meeting.
The participants were also given a welcome dinner on Jul. 13 at the UP Executive House and a conference banquet on Jul. 14 at the UP Diliman Balay Tsanselor.