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Recent years have seen Myanmar’s insurance sector take significant steps forwards, with liberalisation giving rise to a number of foreign insurance companies entering the market. At the same time, the country’s financial sector governance has been strengthened, while the economy has continued to grow. These developments bode well for the industry, with rising per-capita incomes expected to lift premium volumes and improved regulations set to stimulate investment. Indeed, with penetration rates for both life and non-life coverage comparatively very low, and a population of 53.6m as of FY 2018/19, the sector presents significant potential for expansion. Furthermore, the ongoing opening up of the country’s economy and adoption of international best practices is expected to support increased activity and competition. This chapter contains a roundtable with Nhon Luc Ly, CEO, AIA Myanmar; Son Nguyen, Country President, Chubb Life Insurance Myanmar; Zarchi Tin, CEO, Dai-ichi Life Insurance Myanmar; and Asit Rath, CEO, Prudential Myanmar Life Insurance.

The pace of reform in Myanmar’s banking sector has been increasing in recent years, with liberalisation taking a major step forwards in November 2019 when the Central Bank of Myanmar announced that foreign banks would be able to secure a licence to engage in onshore retail business through a subsidiary or joint venture from 2021. Naturally, challenges remain for an industry that only recently emerged from decades of exclusion from the global financial system. Many citizens remain outside the formal network of banks and microfinance institutions, relying instead on informal sources for their financial needs. Skilled human resources also remain a barrier, as new banking methods increasingly challenge traditional practices, while local professionals trained to global banking standards remain scarce. Furthermore, as reform continues, the regulatory regime remains restrictive in terms of products, interest rates, loan books and deposits. This chapter contains a viewpoint from U Kyaw Kyaw Maung, Governor, Central Bank of Myanmar; as well as interviews with Linus Goh, Head of Global Commercial Banking and Executive Vice-President, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation; and Christopher Loh, CEO, uab Bank.

Since initiating the process of liberalising its economy and encouraging greater foreign participation, Myanmar’s international investment inflows and trade have expanded significantly. This has gone hand in hand with strong domestic economic growth, even at a time of global trade slowdowns and protectionist headwinds. Capitalising on its strategic location as a crossroads between China, India and South-east Asia, as well as leveraging its abundant natural resources and youthful population, Myanmar has indeed made remarkable progress in just a few short years. Yet the horizon is not without storm clouds, both in the form of economic responses to the country’s internal conflicts from the international community and continuing challenges to the ease of doing business. Nevertheless, investment from Asia’s economic powers remains strong, even if Western commitments are limited. This chapter contains interviews with U Thaung Tun, Chairman, Myanmar Investment Commission; and Minister of Investment and Foreign Economic Relations; and U Than Myint, Minister of Commerce.

The UAE currently has no system of federal income taxation. Instead, most of the emirates – including Dubai – enacted their own corporate tax decrees in the late 1960s. These emirate-level decrees are of general application and remain in force as amended. These corporate tax decrees are similar in nature and text, and deal in broad terms with the identities of taxable persons, rates, administration, taxable profits and loss relief. The decrees limit the scope of taxation to “bodies corporate” carrying out a trade or business in the respective emirates. This chapter contains a viewpoint from Mark Schofield, Partner, PwC Middle East Tax & Legal Services Leader.

Fuelled by public infrastructure investment and attractive incentives for foreign investors, Dubai’s industrial sector continues to be a major driver of the emirate’s economic growth. While industrial output has been historically built on low-tech but high-value-added segments such as base metals and chemicals production, the emirate is pursuing a diversification agenda under its Dubai Industrial Strategy 2030. This policy appears to be paying dividends, with 2019 seeing growth in priority areas including the food and beverage segment as well as emerging industries such as auto manufacturing. Furthermore, with the reform of foreign ownership laws and the reductions in fees for businesses operating in the emirate’s free zones in 2019, foreign direct investment inflows are expected to rise steadily over the coming years.