South-East Asia 2010
Maximising liquidity
Issuers are always looking to maximise liquidity and their issuance options and rating agency Standard & Poor’s has devised a clever new ratings scale that will enable South-East Asian issuers to do just. S&P has developed an ASEAN Rating Scale that enables international investors to compare South-East Asian credits on a like-for-like basis.
Foreword
This year should be the one in which the key questions about whether the financial crisis is over and whether the recovery is sustainable are answered. The general mood is one of cautious optimism but there are fears about what will happen when government stimulus packages are withdrawn and interest rates start rising in earnest.
Weathering the storm
It has been a surprisingly good year for Asian banks and one in which they have weathered the global financial crisis well and clearly outperformed their US and European counterparts.
Greater China 2009
China is having a good crisis. Its economic growth rate may have halved but the Chinese economy is still set to grow at 6.8% this year, a rate that would be blistering almost anywhere else in the world. Hong Kong and Taiwan are not doing as well but the mainland’s strength is a valuable prop.
Debt Capital Markets 2009
If there has been one bright spot in capital markets amid the global gloom then it is surely the Asian local bond market. Even as wider capital markets issuance has shrunk, many Asian countries are on track to post record issuance this year.
Equity Capital Markets 2009
Signs of life have emerged in Asian equity markets. Investors have drawn some badly needed confidence from the recent global stock market rally and issuers have worked out what sort of deals they can get done in tough market conditions.
Asian Development Bank 2009
Another year, another long-term strategic blueprint-style plan for the Asian Development Bank. This year, however, the bank’s planning is underpinned by sizeable increase to its resources.
South-East Asia 2009
The current global financial crisis has tested the policies that Southeast Asian governments implemented after the Asian financial crisis little more than a decade ago. By and large, the region has weathered the new economic storms well, but the challenges ahead remain considerable.
Outlook for Asian Credit 2009
The global financial crisis has come to Asia and 2009 looks set to be a year of pain for Asian economies. If optimists were talking a year ago about how Asia had decoupled from the US and European economies, today they understand more fully what it means to live in a globalised word.