If it is true that this has outpaced financial integration, perhaps that is because it may be harder to align and streamline legal and regulatory processes insofar as they bear on financial activity than it is for trade. Having said that, I’m not sure that growth in Asian finance is lagging all that far behind.
An indication of the success of the Australian effort to date is that Australia is one of the four countries that has been added to the original Group of Seven to form the new Financial Stability Forum. I will be representing Australia at the next meeting in September in Paris.