Managing Asia's Financial Sector Recovery: The Role of Competition Policy and Corporate Governance

Abstract

At a time when Asia, and indeed the entire world, is reexamining the virtue of competition, it is worthwhile to ask some basic questions. What is the relationship between soundness and competition in financial markets? Is a highly competitive system inherently unstable? How important are regulatory structures in maintaining financial market soundness? Just a week before the Asia Pacific Economic Council (APEC) ministerial meeting in Kuala Lumpur, the Asian Development Bank Institute (ADBI), the Institute for Southeast Asian Studies (ISEAS), the Pacific Economic Cooperation Council (PECC), and the Institute for Financial and Monetary Policy (IFMP) of the Ministry of Finance of Japan convened a distinguished group of policymakers, academics, and government regulators from the APEC economies for a workshop in Singapore, November 9-10. The workshop dealt with two broad issues that are deemed crucial in the context of the Asian crisis - the role of financial sector competition policy and corporate governance in the Asian recovery.