SIGIT WIRYADI

Indonesia Investment·2Jakarta is the most populous city in Indonesia and in Southeast Asia, and is the twelfth-largest city in the world.Reinforcing this growth are the government’sinitiatives in issuing regulationsaddressing the current constraints on thedevelopment of Indonesian Islamic CapitalMarkets. These factors offer positive supportfor future development of the markets.The widening rich-poor gap, trade protectionism,inflationary pressure, and poorcondition of state infrastructure can bementioned as major setbacks draggingdown the country’s economy.From an investor’s point of view, whatare the risk factors that should be closelymonitored and is there any governmentmeasure ready to tackle these issues?The widening income gap is a risk factor forpolitical instability in Indonesia as a youngdemocracy.Political stability is a major investor prerequisitefor long term investment in any emergingmarket, thus as an effort, the Indonesiangovernment has provided freedom of speechand decentralized government as a way toreduce imbalances in its society, solidifyingthe fully democratic country as a globalinvestment destination.As the Moody’s and Fitch country investmentgrade attainment attests, Indonesia isstrong not only in economic fundamentals butalso in political fundamentals; both of whichwill ensure long term social stability.Recently, Mirae Asset in Korea has announcedthat it has agreed to acquire a 70 percentstake in NISP Asset Management.This move underscores how attractiveIndo-nesian markets are to foreign investorsand how eagerly they want to enterinto the market. What kind of differentiationstrategy will you design and implementin the asset management companyafter the acquisition?Given Indonesia’s promising opportunityin the investment management industry andcompany niche offered by both Mirae andNISP Asset Management, our strategy willfocus on developing innovative products,based on our strength in possessing localknowledge and Mirae Asset expertise ininvesting with a long term perspective.This combination will enable our futurefunds to become flagship products for thelocal market whilst keeping within the MiraeAsset product range. We believe the flagshipproducts will add value to Mirae Asset’s globalportfolio.Emerging Markets Insight 15