Asia Financial Services

The local bourse has seen a bonanza of major offerings in 2012, from the $3.1bn IPO of plantations owner Felda Global, to the dual Singapore-Malaysia listing of hospital operator IHH Healthcare. The corporate bond market is also on a record-setting pace, thanks in large part to a string of sukuk sales that included a $9.9bn debt offering from tollway company PLUS. Meanwhile a wave of...

Malaysia’s banking sector is well-capitalised and stable, with larger financial institutions now looking at overseas expansion to increase their clout. The regulators’ encouragement of consolidation under the Financial Sector Master Plan, which ended in 2010, reduced the number of banks from around 20 down to 8 major institutions. These have high capital-adequacy ratios and low ratios of non-...

The insurance industry was certainly impacted by the unprecedented flooding damage in the second half of 2011, but the disaster is leading to reform and better approaches to risk management in the public and private sectors. The damage is also expected to increase awareness of the value of insurance and raise Thailand’s below-average insurance penetration. At the same time, increased re-insurance...

Thailand’s capital markets are relatively mature, with most major private companies listed on the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) or one of three smaller bourses. The SET itself is somewhat unique among regional markets as it is a semi-governmental agency that borrows several features from the mutual structure. Demutualisation has been mooted several times in the past, but the current...

Thailand’s banking sector is well capitalised and highly conservative, a legacy of the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis, which left financiers in the region averse to systemic risk. It is also a very local affair, with less than 15% of assets held by foreign banks. This may change in 2015 when new banking regulations come into force, but little shakeup is expected for the time being. The banking...