3 Ways to Serve Asia and the Pacific’s 'Unbanked'
To ensure ongoing economic growth in Asia and for the poorest to have a chance to benefit from the region’s growing prosperity, we must prioritize bringing financial services readily and cheaply to the “unbanked”.
4 Ways to Boost SME Access to Finance from Commercial Banks in ASEAN
To avoid heavy-handed state intervention in small businesses, we need to think of new ways to make it easier for SMEs to obtain credit from commercial banks in ASEAN economies.
A Global ID System That Could Revolutionize Finance
GLEIF will be a critically important contribution to help realize many of the current developments in fintech, and to spur more growth in cross-border trade.
A Promising but Bumpy Road Ahead for Blockchain
There are several important challenges to tackle before blockchain-based solutions can solve real-world problems.
Are Infrastructure Bonds the Next Big Thing in Infrastructure Financing?
The region’s infrastructure bond market is still at a nascent stage.
Asia Could Use Diaspora Bonds to Finance Development
The success of these financial instruments in India and Nigeria shows that patriotic ties can be a powerful incentive for diaspora members to invest in their home countries.
Asia Pacific Post-2015 Priorities, MDG8 and Global Partnerships
Any contemporary story on development in Asia-Pacific begins with reflection on massive gains achieved in the fight against poverty. The incidence of people living on less than $1.25 a day fell from 54.5% in 1990 to 20.7% in 2010, with the number of extreme poor declining from 1.48 billion to 733 million. This precipitous decline in poverty incidence has been accompanied by tremendous gains in access to health and education.
Asia Vast Savings Can Bring on an “Age of Sustainability”
Insurance companies, pension funds, and other institutional investors in Asia and the Pacific can pave the way to a resilient and sustainable future.
Asian Financial Integration: How Much Has it Come True?
As articulated by Cavoli, Rajan, and Siregar (2004) in their survey of East Asian financial integration, financial integration is a multidimensional process closely associated with development of financial markets.
Banking Integration in ASEAN Gathers Pace
The ASEAN Economic Community, planned to come into effect in 2015, is expected to liberalize goods, capital and skilled labor flows in the ASEAN region. While there has been considerable progress in the area of trade integration, financial integration still lags behind. The ASEAN Banking Integration Framework, which aims to liberalize the banking market by 2020, could help pave the way for further integration and the entry of ASEAN banks into regional banking markets.