Under this scheme, the time required to issue in multiple markets will be the same as that for issuing in one market, reaping both cost and time savings for issuers. The cross border RMB channels with SIP and TEC, which I mentioned earlier, would also allow corporates in these locations to issue RMB bonds in Singapore. These initiatives in the debt and equity markets will allow companies to diversify their sources of funding abroad, more easily tap investors in overseas markets as well as broaden the array of debt investment choices in local markets. d.  Fund Management. There are two similar initiatives for mutual recognition of collective investment schemes in Asia. The first, among Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand, led by the ASEAN securities regulators. The second, involving Singapore, Korea, Australia and New Zealand, called the Asian Region Funds Passport under the auspices of APEC. These initiatives will widen the opportunities for investors and fund managers abroad. 13. In addition, we see evidence of partnerships among market participants, especially in the area of OTC derivatives which has been typically a fragmented market: a. Collateral Management. The global reforms for OTC derivatives have drastically increased the demand for collateral. To date, Asian collateral is not widely traded or commonly accepted outside of their home market. This has created inefficiencies as financial institutions can neither obtain specific, nor deploy excess, Asian collateral outside of their home market. Two developments have helped.
The credit easing package and expanded APP has been effective too in reducing wholesale funding costs for banks, allowing banks to pass on better funding conditions to their customers. Since summer last year the average cost of borrowing for euro area non-financial corporations has fallen by around 70 bps, and by 90 bps and 110 bps for NFCs in Spain and Italy, respectively. The latest evidence from the July Bank Lending Survey confirms the improvement in credit conditions. During the second quarter of 2015 credit standards continued to ease for firms, and even more so for households. Reflecting the endogenous relationship between credit supply and demand, credit demand also increased among both groups driven mostly by the low level of interest rates. The impact of the expanded APP on bank funding costs has been partially reversed by the recent market repricing. Here, however, the credit easing package and our broader asset purchases could act as complements, in particular the Targeted Long-Term Refinancing Operations. For the APP, the ECB defines the volume of liquidity it would like to inject, but cannot determine the price; for TLTROs, we define the price of the liquidity, but banks determine the volume. One tool can therefore act as an automatic stabiliser for the other. Indeed, as wholesale funding costs for banks have risen, so has the attractiveness of the TLTRO. This substitution effect accounts in particular for the higher participation in the fourth operation by banks in less vulnerable countries.