ASEAN Exchanges
ASEAN Exchanges is a collaboration of the 7 exchanges from Malaysia, Vietnam (2 exchanges), Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand and Singapore to promote the growth of the ASEAN capital market by bringing more ASEAN investment opportunities to more investors. The collaboration is working with partners to build greater liquidity amongst members by: Market integration. On 18 September 2012, the ASEAN Exchanges collaboration launched the ASEAN Trading Link, a gateway for securities brokers to offer investors easier access to connected exchanges. Bursa Malaysia and Singapore Exchange were the first two exchanges to join the link on the launch day, while The  Stock Exchange of Thailand joined on 15 October 2012, creating a virtual market of over 2,200 listed companies and US$1.4trillion combined market capitalisation. The purpose of the trading link is to connect the securities markets of the ASEAN exchanges, essentially making it just as easy for investors to trade in other ASEAN capital markets as it is to trade in their own domestic market. Also on 15 October 2012, ASEAN Exchanges launched a new website, featuring aggregated ASEAN market data and analytics. On April 8, 2011 ASEAN member countries have launched a new joint website promoting the region's  blue chip equities to global investors as a commitment to integrating their stock exchanges by 2015. Combined market capitalization. The combined market capitalisation of ASEAN Exchanges was US$2.1trillion, with over 3,600 listed companies, as at end August 2012. The ASEAN asset class. There are currently two ASEAN equity indices: There are three Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) that track the FTSE/ASEAN 40 Index: In addition to the FTSE indices, the ASEAN Stars, a selection of the ASEAN Top 180 blue chip stocks representing the most exciting 30 companies of each exchange, are provided on the ASEAN Exchanges website, along  with market data for each stock. The goal of the ASEAN Stars is to provide brokers and investors with an easily identifiable reference of blue chip companies on each exchange, ranked in terms of market capitalization and liquidity.