Banking Reform In Southeast Asia

Providing a detailed account of the history of banking reform in Southeast Asia, this book analyzes the major developments in the global economic system over the past three decades, including the globalization of finance, the debt crisis of the 1980s and the 1997-1998 Asian financial crisis.

Financial systems in the East Asian region are commanding worldwide attention. Japan's financial sector, with an ailing banking system in the aftermath of a bubble economy, is undergoing a "Big Bang" deregulation, liberalization, and securitization. At the same time, the rehabilitation of Southeast Asian and Korean economies in the wake of the Asian financial crisis awaits restoration of their banking sectors. The region's bank-dominated and development finance-oriented financial systems are coming into friction with global capital markets that lack adequate architecture. In this volume, researchers from ten East Asian think- tanks analyse the financial systems in their respective economies. They survey the financial sector deregulation and liberalization that took place in the midst of economic booms and they evaluate the role of the financial systems in the region's current economic misfortunes. Together, the pieces in this volume lay the groundwork for understanding how financial systems in East Asia have evolved as the economies have grown more complex and capital markets have globalized, and how these systems must adapt to move beyond today's crisis to serve the region's economies in the future.

This multi-disciplinary volume provides a critical examination of corporate governance reform in Southeast Asia especially after the Asian financial crisis in 1997. The weaknesses in the corporate sector, such as poor investment structure, weak legal and accounting systems, faulty financial practices, questionable political interventions, are some of the pertinent issues raised by the authors, who include legal specialists, corporate practitioners, economists, and political scientists. Policy measures to improve corporate transparency, institutional accountability, and fiscal prudence are also proposed. The volume provides interested readers and policy-makers in Southeast Asia with the most current research and policy options on corporate governance reform, and advocates more committed and effective governance changes in the future.

This work examines the effects of financial liberalization of the more advanced economies in Southeast Asia and analyses the degree to which emerging and transitional economies in East and South Asia can benefit from this example.

Institutional Change in Southeast Asiaexamines the institutional changes taking place in, and challenges facing, the region since 1997. The book focuses on determinants to the adjustments and on implementations of the reforms. It also describes various differences in the reform process between countries in the region. Southeast Asia's economic development over the last decades has been impressive. Most of the region achieved consistently high growth rates accompanied by significant structural transformation and industrialization, poverty alleviation and improvements in their overall standard of living as indicated by such social indicators as greater longevity, more widespread delivery of basic education and lower infant mortality rates. However, the crisis that struck Southeast Asia in 1997 had severe economic, social and political consequences in the region. It also threw into doubt the future economic prosperity of the countries in Southeast Asia and raised intriguing questions about the quality of their institutions and their approach to economic development. Sjöholm and Tongzon argue that the economies of Southeast Asia need to reform their institutions if the previous rapid development is to continue. The institutional weaknesses have been addressed to different degrees and with different success in the affected countries. Against the backdrop of Southeast Asia's importance in the world economy, it is hardly possible to overestimate the need to understand this process of change.

This study analyzes the difficulties and problems encountered in transforming the Vietnamese financial sector from one subordinate to government objectives and goals to an autonomous sector guided by market forces and competitive pressures. Here, the history of financial sector liberalization is traced and close attention paid to the activities and autonomy of the State Bank of Vietnam, the institution responsible for the supervision and regulation of the financial sector in Vietnam.

The Asian financial crisis has attracted much attention to this part of the world, especially Southeast Asia where the crisis first emerged. While there are signs of economic recovery in the affected countries, financial events in Southeast Asia remain the focus of international attention. Part I of this book highlights the basic features of the financial systems of Southeast Asian countries and Part II highlights the financial reforms that have been implemented in several Southeast Asian countries and Hong Kong. Part III is a convenient directory of the various financial institutions in Southeast Asia and Hong Kong. Part IV is a list of abbreviations and Part V is a lexicon or dictionary of financial terms arranged from A to Z. Many of these terms are specific to Southeast Asia. They are not found in most standard dictionaries on banking and finance. Contents:Financial Systems in Southeast Asia and Hong KongFinancial Reforms in Selected Southeast Asian Countries and Hong KongDirectory of Financial Institutions in Southeast Asia and Hong KongAbbreviations of Financial Terms Used in Southeast Asian and Hong KongLexicon of Financial Terms Used in Southeast Asia and Hong Kong Readership: Financial institutions, libraries and members of the financial and banking community, including professionals, researchers and students. Keywords:

Financial markets are given to instability, but some financial systems are more crisis-prone than others. Natasha Hamilton-Hart's historically grounded investigation of central banks, governments, and private bankers in Southeast Asia helps explain why. Focusing on Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore, she shows how the long-term development and internal attributes of central banks and state financial institutions shape their interactions with private bankers and influence their ability to manage the financial sector.The politics of finance in Southeast Asia is understudied, Hamilton-Hart contends, and central banks themselves virtually ignored. Yet central banks play a pivotal role in determining a country's vulnerability to regional and global financial pressures such as the currency and financial crises of the late 1990s. Southeast Asian central bankers were major players in the events surrounding these upheavals. Countries in the region experienced the economic chaos in different ways, however, as the central banks of Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore drew upon different institutional capacities and legacies. Asian States, Asian Bankers brings new case material to the field of political economics and delineates the operation of central banks and their roles in the monetary and financial policies of three Southeast Asian states. In addition, Hamilton-Hart's work bridges two areas that have often been studied apart from each other: the national-level politics of financial management and the transnational orientation of many bankers in Southeast Asia.