The future of Asian finance / Edited by Ratna Sahay, Jerald Schiff, Cheng Hoon Lim, Chikahisa Su-mi, and James P. Walsh

Asia’s financial systems proved resilient to the shocks from the global financial crisis, and growth since then has been strong. But new challenges have emerged in the region’s economies, including demographics and aging, the need to diversify from bank-dominated systems, urbanization and infrastructure, and the rebalancing of economic activity. This book takes stock of how systems in Asia’s advanced and emerging market economies compare with the rest of the world and how reforms to develop equity and bond markets have progressed. It then looks forward at how Asian financial systems will evolve in complexity and interconnectedness and what this means for the regional financial centers of Hong Kong SAR and Singapore. Finally, it looks at how the region’s demographic dividend can be harnessed to finance infrastructre, the state of economic and financial integration in ASEAN, the role of capital flows, and how changes to global regulatory regimes will affect Asian financial systems. Asia's financial systems proved resilient to the shocks from the global financial crisis, and growth since then has been strong. But new challenges have emerged in the regions economies, including demographics and aging, the need to diversify from bank-dominated systems, urbanization and infrastructure, and the rebalancing of economic activity. This book takes stock of how systems in Asias advanced and emerging market economies compare with the rest of the world and how reforms to develop equity and bond markets have progressed. It then looks forward at how Asian financial systems will evolve in complexity and interconnectedness and what this means for the regional financial centers of Hong Kong SAR and Singapore. Finally, it looks at how the regions demographic dividend can be harnessed to finance infrastructure, the state of economic and financial integration in ASEAN, the role of capital flows, and how changes to global regulatory regimes will affect Asian financial systems. Cover Contents Foreword Contributors Part I: The Structure of Finance in Asia 1 Introduction 2 A Bird’s-Eye View of Finance in Asia 3 Are There Crouching Tigers and Hidden Dragons in Asia’s Stock Markets? 4 Bond Markets: Are Recent Reforms Working? Part II: Where Is Asia Going? 5 Is Asia Still Resilient? 6 The Future of Asia’s Financial Sector 7 Hong Kong SAR and Singapore as Asian Financial Centers—Complementarity and Stability Part III: Challenges Ahead 8 Asia’s Demographic Changes and Infrastructure Needs: How Can the Financial Sector Address These Challenges? 9 ASEAN Financial Integration: Harnessing Benefits and Mitigating Risks 10 Capital Flows: A Prospective View 11 Operating within the New Global Regulatory Environment Index A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W Asia's financial systems proved resilient to the shocks from the global financial crisis, and growth since then has been strong. But new challenges have emerged in the region's economies, including demographics and aging, the need to diversify from bank-dominated systems, urbanization and infrastructure, and the rebalancing of economic activity. This book takes stock of the challenges facing the region today and how economic systems in Asia's advanced and emerging market economies compare with the rest of the world.