For instance, intra-regional bond investment accounts only for 7 percent of total bond investment in Asia, compared to figures of 59 percent for the EU and 19 percent for North America. In this light, the Asian Bond Markets Initiative (ABMI) should remain a high priority on Asia’s financial reform agenda.
We should keep in mind as well that financial integration is a market process that takes a very long time and evolves only gradually. Policies and institutions implemented to promote financial integration may–and perhaps should–also differ across time and place. But I do not think Asian markets are intrinsically different, in terms of their modus operandi, from other advanced markets.