Progress has been made on a number of fronts as the Asean Economic Community (AEC) takes shape with updates on insurance policy and collective investment schemes.

The updates were announced in a joint statement of the 2nd Asean Finance Ministers and Governors Meeting released yesterday, after Monday's meeting.

One initiative involves setting up an Asean Insurance Forum to facilitate regional insurance integration and to help support trade, investment and economic integration "in line with the AEC".

There will be a signing on May 3 to implement what is known as the Seventh Package of Financial Services Commitments, which is aimed at liberalising the insurance sector.

Several Asean states have already "fully liberalised the cross-border supply of international maritime, aviation and transit insurance".

The go-ahead has also been given to form a cross-committee group to address issues related to tax when implementing the Asean Collective Investment Scheme framework in order to enhance its effectiveness.

The framework aims to streamline the authorisation process that a fund manager in one country has to undergo to sell the schemes across Asean borders.

The statement also noted that a different framework for cross-border offerings of such schemes has received positive industry response.