Region weighs the need for a one-stop shop
Companies and investors looking for an Asian hub are spoilt for choice, if one is to believe the slogans produced by the region’s main cities.
Some will find Hong Kong’s claim to be “Asia’s World City” persuasive, while others may be swayed by “Uniquely Singapore” or “Cool & Trendy” Seoul, or even fall for the matter-of-fact swagger of Shanghai, “China’s Greatest City”.
And for those preferring the road less travelled, there is always Kuala Lumpur, the “Vision City” at the heart of “Malaysia, Truly Asia”.
This cacophonic effort to lure the foreign dollar highlights Asia’s challenge in presenting itself as a united financial zone.
Despite boasting some of the world’s fastest-growing economies, the region is hampered by its fragmented financial infrastructure and capital markets.
Unlike the US and Europe, Asia cannot yet offer foreign investors a one-stop shop.
The region accounts for a fraction of the capital markets flow of the west, yet eight Asian exchanges feature in the world’s top 18 stock markets by capitalisation.
In China, for example, two stock markets vie for the attention of companies and investors, an unhealthy kind of competition that Europe and the US dealt with years ago.
Historical, geographical and cultural reasons have contributed to what one regional capital market expert labels “the Balkanisation of Asia’s financial world”.
The region is vast and heterogeneous, ranging from the mature markets of Australia and New Zealand to the developing economies of China and India.
The geographical distances are compounded by a troubled recent history
