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Periodic Essay
Banking in the clouds
Banks in Asia are looking into the opportunities, and risks, that cloud computing can bring to their industry as they expand domestically and regionally.
Periodic Essay
Asia’s Fintech Revolution
Driven by the proliferation of new technologies and startups, financial systems across Asia are undergoing a significant transformation. Finance in Asia has been historically dominated by large banks, many of which have been slow to embrace technological change thereby leaving many parts of the economy underserved in terms of access to financial services. The growing ubiquity of mobile phones, the internet, and other technologies have given rise to new ways of delivering financial services, a phenomenon commonly referred to as ?fintech.? The companies leading the introduction of these new ...
Periodic Essay
China: an evolving housing market
Periodic Essay
Financial system reform in Thailand
In 2004 Thailand began to implement the Financial Sector Master Plan (FSMP), a long-term reform program aimed at creating a more efficient, transparent, and internationally competitive financial sector that can serve a larger proportion of the Thai population. With the first phase of the FSMP completed in 2009, Thailand announced that a second phase of financial sector reforms will begin in 2010. This Asia Focus report provides an overview of the FSMPs development, highlights key reform measures completed under Phase I, and describes measures proposed under Phase II and some of the challenges ...
Periodic Essay
Challenges in global finance: the role of Asia
On June 11-12, 2012, the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco (FRBSF) held its fifth Conference on Asian Banking and Finance in San Francisco, entitled ?Challenges in Global Finance: The Role of Asia.? Conference participants discussed how the ongoing economic and financial uncertainties in Europe will impact the Asian economies, banking sectors and trade flows; and how Asian banks and financial institutions themselves are addressing these issues.
Periodic Essay
China’s interest rate liberalization reform
This Asia Focus report explains the importance of interest rate liberalization in China, reviews historical progress and current efforts made to date, and discusses the potential impact on the banking sector.
Periodic Essay
Regulatory frameworks for financial services in Asia
This Asia Focus report serves as a reference for current prudential regulatory regimes overseeing the financial services institutions in several Asian economies, and provides some context for the development of these structures. The scope of this report focuses specifically on pru-dential supervision and does not include broader is-sues of ongoing debate such as consumer protection, financial market regulation, and the merits of central banks in supervision.
Periodic Essay
Burma – paving the road to a modern banking system
This Asia Focus report provides a historical background of Burmese banking crises, analyzes recent and upcoming regulatory reforms, and evaluates hurdles to the development of a modern banking system.
Periodic Essay
Postal savings reform in Northeast Asia: China
This issue of the Asia Focus is the first of a two-part series discussing recent developments affecting postal savings programs in Japan, South Korea, and China. Part One of the series reviews the historical underpinnings of the Japanese and South Korean postal savings programs and discusses recent reform efforts and current challenges. Part Two of the series will describe the development of the Chinese postal savings program and will provide a comparison of all three postal savings programs.
Periodic Essay
Accounting regulatory architecture in Asia
Accounting regulatory regimes play a critical role in ensuring the reliability of financial data and the credibility of a company, and ultimately in supporting the stability of an economy. For the United States, the collapse of the Enron Corporation and the eruption of other financial statement related scandals a decade ago stand as clear reminders of the importance of reliable audit reviews and adequate regulatory oversight. These scandals led to the passage of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (Sarbanes- Oxley Act). This legislation created an independent accounting oversight board to ...