Penetrating the Regulatory Thicket in Asia: Nonmarket Strategies in Banking and Insurance

Abstract

A chief source of growth in the world economy is the ongoing reduction of barriers to the international movement of capital. Many Asian countries have greatly benefited from this development. However, those sustained high growth rates came to an abrupt end in 1997 with the onset of the Asian financial crisis.Yet, despite extensive public and private borrowing from foreign sources, as well as the particularly pronounced dependence on foreign markets for their exports, the market presence of foreign financial institutions in many of these countries is marginal at best. A study of the financial sector in Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan concludes:

Domestic opening to foreign institutions has lagged far behind the liberalization of financial flows. Whether by policy design, structural conditions, or costs of entry, foreign firms have small shares of the domestic loan, deposit, and other financial markets in all three countries.¹