

ASEAN Speaks
Maybank
ASEAN Speaks by Maybank presents conversations with market analysts and thought leaders across Southeast Asia on topics covering equities, fixed income, forex, economics, sustainability, and current affairs that impact regional markets.
Episodes
Mentioned books

May 5, 2025 • 22min
Post General Elections Amidst Earnings
In this week's epsiode of ASEAN Speaks our host Thilan unpacks the implications of Singapore's General Election and what it means for market stability amid global uncertainty. Once again highlighting our top 40 Singapore-First Picks.Our REITS analyst breaks down 1Q results for most REITs, going through the risks facing the sector and why he remains positive despite a weak quarter. While our TMT analyst goes through Grab's strong first quarter earnings and his take on management's guidance upgrade.On to the consumer sector, Wilmar reported an inline 1Q and an increasing demand in China. Our host Thilan goes through why he believes Wilmar is a resilient stock in this trade war battle.Jumping across to Thailand a new initiation on Thai Life Insurance was recently published. Trading at 0.75x price to value, Thilan goes through why we believe it has a 30% upside.Edited by Xuan Hao, Dion, Bruce

Apr 28, 2025 • 16min
Singapore-First Focus: Resurgence of the Domestic Economy
In this week's epsiode of ASEAN Speaks our host Thilan dives deeper into our Singapore Strategy amidst tariff uncertainty, highlighting 40 stocks that we have screened with more than 50% of revenue derived in the domestic market.Eric Ong, one of our analysts comes on the show to talk about Raffles Medical being a local champion, explaining his upgraded target price and some catalysts for the stock.Hussaini also comes along having published a preview on Sea Limited and Grab Holdings highlighting their relatively shielded position from tariff uncertainty and explaining his bear case sensitivity analysis in case the tariff war escalates.Edited by Xuan Hao, Dion, Bruce

Apr 21, 2025 • 20min
Defending Against Tariffs: REITs and Singtel
In today's episode of ASEAN Speaks, we dive deeper into the REITs sector which we believe is our best defensive pick in the ASEAN market. As well as our economist Brian Lee going across Singapore's export numbers and why his forecasts for Singapore's GDP has remained the same.Krishna, our REITs analyst, maintains a POSITIVE view on S-REITs and goes through why after stress testing he believes the sector is our main defensive pick as well as highlights some of his top picks. On the other side of the causeway our analyst in KL highlights Malaysia REITs, sharing her views on several catalysts and risks as well as her top 3 picks in that sector.Hussaini once again comes back, reiterating his belief on Singtel as a top pick even in this period of tariff uncertainty. Highlighting why it has outperformed ASEAN peers and the STI year-to-date.

Apr 14, 2025 • 19min
Playing with the Tariff Switch: Trump's Indecisiveness
In this week's episode of ASEAN Speaks, our host Thilan is joined by our Economist, Brian Lee to give us new insights on MAS’s policy easing and Singapore’s GDP forecast downgrade and Senior Analyst Eric Ong shares why ComfortDelGro could be a safe haven.Thilan unpacks the downgrade of Singapore banks to Neutral and takes a deep dive into the uncertainty of the markets.On Behalf of Senior Analyst Jarick Seet, our host, Thilan unpacks the risk facing Venture Corpotation and also highlights our call on Grab Holdings.Edited by Xuan Hao, Dion, Bruce.

Apr 7, 2025 • 19min
Crisis or Catalyst ? Navigating Trump Tariff Shocks
In this week's episode of ASEAN SPEAKS, our host Thilan is joined by our Regional Equity Strategist, Anand Pathmakanthan, to unpack the equity implications of Trump’s Liberation Day tariffs, especially for ASEAN markets like Vietnam, Thailand, and Malaysia.Our Co-Head of Macro Research, Dr Chua Hak Bin, shares his views on the economic impact, including ASEAN growth downgrades and how China’s retaliatory measures could shape the road ahead.Zooming in on Singapore, Thilan discusses why the STI’s sharp drop could still present buying opportunities, and highlights key names in our Trump Tariff Winners portfolio.Our Head of Sustainability Research, Jigar Shah, introduces our latest ESG portfolio for Singapore, explaining how companies with strong sustainability practices are proving more resilient amid market volatility.Edited by Xuan Hao, Dion, Bruce

Mar 24, 2025 • 20min
Stock Picking Amidst Storms Brewing
In this week's episode of ASEAN Speaks, our host Thilan invites our economist Chua Hak Bin to talk about the US's Liberation Day and how that would impact the ASEAN market.Our SMIDs analyst, Jarick Seet goes through why he is upgrading ISOTeam's target price amidst its CEO buying ISOTeam shares.With increased rumours of Grab merging with GoTo, our analyst from Indonesia, Etta Rusdiana Putra, goes through why believes even if the merger does not fall through GoTo has great upside potential.Our Industrials analyst, Krishna Guha, discusses some highlights from ST Engineering's recent Investor Day and goes through some upside risks the company may have.While looking at Data Centres and amidst Thailand's fluctuating market, Thilan briefly goes through what Hussaini Saifee, our TMT analyst, is thinking about the new data centre capacity approval in BangkokEdited by Xuan Hao, Dion, Bruce

Mar 18, 2025 • 19min
Market Overview and Equity Highlights
In this episode, our host goes through an ASEAN Equity Overview of the ASEAN-6 (Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand and Philippines) done by Anand Pathmakanthan, Head of Regional Equity Research. Our SMIDs analyst, Jarick Seet, also goes through why he is confident on rating Frencken as a BUY despite the recent slowing down of the semi-conductor space in Singapore, expecting a recovery soon.Jarick also reiterates his expectance of special dividends for SingPost given the recent announcement of consolidation of SingPost's operation freeing up space at the SingPost Centre.Samuel Yin is dialing in from Malaysia to talk about Genting Berhad and why he is confident in upgrading the stock to a BUY, all the while giving his two cents on Genting Singapore.Edited by Xuan Hao, Dion, Bruce

Mar 11, 2025 • 20min
Potential Buys and China's Trade War Response
In this episode of ASEAN Speaks, we are joined by 3 of our analysts will be talking about three key stocks that they believe will perform well in the future as earnings season comes to a close as well as our China Economist.Hussaini, our TMT analyst talks about Sea Limited's blowout 4th Quarter performance and the key prospects he is forecasting for this year.Jarick Seet, our SMIDs analyst, talk about SingPost's potential upcoming special dividend in May despite it's weak performance the past 3 months.Erica, our China Economist talks about what the latest National People's Congress announcements and the ongoing trade war have for China's future.Finally, Eric our Healthcare and Transports analyst talk about our Opportunity+ Stock, LHN and why he believes now is the perfect time to BUY.Edited by Xuan Hao/Dion/Bruce

Mar 5, 2025 • 19min
Sector Shifts: Seeking Shelters from White House Tantrums
In this episode of ASEAN Speaks, we feature three of our analysts who give their opinions on some rating changes as earnings season is coming to a close.Jarick Seet, our SMIDs analyst, talks about the tech manufacturing sector outlook, going into detail on whether the previous murky forecasts has given way to more positive prospects.Thilan Wickramasinghe, our Head of Research, goes in depth into OCBC's performance and why he still prefers UOB after all three banks have reported their results.Finally, we have Krishna Guha, our REITs and Industrials analyst, who explains why he has upgraded ST Engineering to a fresh BUY given the increase in defense spending.Edited by Xuan Hao/Dion/Bruce

Feb 25, 2025 • 17min
MAS and Markets: Policy Changes and Earnings
In today's episode of ASEAN Speaks our host Seng Yeow briefly discusses on the shifts in the US market highlighting Alibaba's upcoming advantage with the recovery of the Chinese Tech Market.Our head of research, Thilan Wickaramasinghe goes through the MAS' first set of recommendations to revive Singapore's stock market which includes a S$5 billion initiative, a Market Development Fund focusing on the domestic market.Our TMT analyst, Hussaini Saifee also discusses Grab and SingTel's earnings results talking about potential mergers between Grab and GoTo as well as SingTel's strong quarterly earnings.Edited by Bruce/Dion/Xuan Hao


