These include the rapidly growing importance of East and South Asia in international trade and investment, the rising global demand for commodities, and the changing global saving and investment patterns associated with the expanding middle class in developing economies and demographic aging in the western economies and Japan.
The satisfactory performance of the banking system has been characterised by: •  Strong levels of capital;  BIS central bankers’ speeches  1  •  Adequate liquidity; indeed liquidity levels have been at all time highs in recent years;  •  Higher profitability; and  •  Revived lending trends which in the recent past were assessed to be on slow growth.