The proposed Asian Region Funds Passport could be available as a pilot program as soon as 2015, according to speakers at the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) Annual Forum.
Financial Services Council (FSC) director of policy Martin Codina said that an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) finance ministers meeting in the second half of the year would be "instrumental" for proposals to form a region-wide passport for funds in Asia Pacific.
"This is the critical meeting and the expectation in my mind is that at this meeting we'll get that decision," Mr Codina said.
"There is a sub-meeting group that is now working to finalise all of the rules surrounding the passport - that group comprises of four economies and those four economies are Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and Korea.
"Now if we can get those four economies to sign on in September or October, then in early 2015 the model would be exposed to consultation. and from there we would look for a 2015 commencement."
State Street vice president, Asia-Pacific regulatory, industry and government affairs Catherine Simmons said that now is an opportune time for the advancement of managed funds within the region.
She said that the region is looking at collective vehicles to ensure a greater range of products as people move towards retirement.
"The projected growth of regional assets under management creates a critical mass that actually makes this interesting," Ms Simmons said.
"Most of the assets are still in the United States and Europe, but the Asia Pacific region is growing."
However, Ms Simmons said it was important that the Asian Region Funds Passport was able to compete with the undertakings for collective investment in transferable securities (UCITS) model.
She supported a simplistic approach that started with a limited number of jurisdictions and expanded as the vehicle gained support.
"I think it's difficult to achieve agreement between all the markets at once, so you don't want to go down the Euro path and have an Asia Pacific passport with every single country," Ms Simmons said.
"You should begin with agreement on a product with a few jurisdictions that are ready. You can use the US dollar for fund settlement to overcome the currency issue but have local currency product and encourage local jurisdictions to join once the vehicle is more established."
