Asia Pacific’s geographical diversity makes the idea of a regional approach to custody seem far-fetched. But, as Francis Maguire reports, if the Japanese market can be cracked, then a regional solution may be possible.

South Korea’s banks have been suffering wide profit swings. Park Sang-soo reports from Seoul on their efforts to find alternative sources of income to beef up their profitability.

In a bid to boost South Korea’s sluggish economy, the government has revised asset management laws to encourage the growth of private equity funds. But the move has its opponents, as Kim Ji-hyun reports.

Malaysia’s central bank governor Tan Sri Dato Zeti Akhtar Aziz tells Brian Caplen why she is focusing on economic stability, and discusses Islamic banking, keeping the dollar peg and relations with China.

Premier Yu Shyi-kun appointed Taiwan Sugar Corp chairman Kong Jaw-sheng to head Taiwan’s new Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC), which will begin operation on July 1.

Chen Shui-bian’s victory in retaining his hotly contested presidency has set Taiwan firmly on the road to modernisation. Dennis Engbarth reports from Taipei.

Dennis Engbarth reports on Taiwan’s first successful, officially-backed managed exit from the banking market.

Bank of China (BoC), the largest of China’s big four state-owned banks, has announced that its non-performing loans ratio will be down to around 5% by the end of 2004 as it plans to bring in a strategic investor later this year in preparation for its IPO. This significant reform of the bank’s ownership structure reflects the Chinese authorities’ determination to reform the big four banks which account for 55% of China’s bank assets.

China is set to use medicine strong enough to cool down its investment fever, but not so potent as to bring the economy to a standstill. Banks are at the forefront of this austerity campaign, acting on the orders of the central government to choke off credit supply to overheated sectors.

India’s Congress Party will lead an alliance of political parties that will form the next government after it emerged the surprise victor in the country’s national elections in early May. Voters shunned the previous regime led by the Bharatiya Janata Party whose economic reforms appear to have left a large majority of rural Indians unmoved.
Manmohan Singh, the former finance minister, will be the new prime minister after Congress party president Sonia Gandhi turned the job down.