The year in charts

Political capital Regulators across Asia have set out to improve governance and transparency in their capital markets, but regional experts worry they could create a host of self-defeating distortions if long-standing structural contradictions are ignored. The biggest changes have been in China, where the Year of the Snake may go down as one of the regulator. The Chinese Government has either proposed or followed through on a raft of economic and financial reform measures in its capital markets. Authorities in India and the Philippines also...

Sleeping giant awakes Abenomics looks to be pulling Japan out of its decades-long torpor, but its near-term impact across Asia remains decidedly mixed. While the surge in the Nikkei Index and the stream of Japanese acquisitions in South-East Asia will continue, China and South Korea could unleash their own measures to protect against a devalued yen. The long-term effects of Abenomics on both Japan and the wider Asian region will depend on Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s ability to deliver on badly needed structural reforms. However, the year-old...

Divining intentions China’s foreign policy is premised on its desire to ensure uninterrupted economic growth, while promoting political stability and prolonging the rule of the Chinese Communist Party. For decades, the Chinese Government has deployed both soft and hard power to promote its influence and status overseas, while, at the same time, discouraging foreign interference in China’s affairs. Yet, China is trying to have its cake and eat it, too, in portraying itself, on the one hand, as a good neighbour and, on the other, making sure...

Welcome back, China Investment banks in Asia-Pacific have come full circle. Firms that shifted resources to South-East Asia after volumes and fees from Greater China ebbed in the last two years have the world’s second-biggest economy squarely in their sights again. “The theme for 2014 is going to be China, because we’ve already started to see it this year, as the country starts to reassert itself in the capital markets and in terms of innovation,” said John Wright, CEO, Global Sage. A boost in deal flow out of the PRC is one sign that demand...

Low rates and unflagging investor appetite for most of the year pushed bond sales in Asia to an all-time record high. Sales of Asian debt in G3 currencies had already beaten last year’s US$133.8bn tally as of mid-November, with the total in IFR’s 12-month review period at an unprecedented US$146.5bn. The banner year for Asia, excluding Japan and Australasia, is an unintended consequence of the US Federal Reserve’s monetary policies, which kept bond prices high and yields low throughout much of the world and sent investors scrambling to find...

IFR Asia reviews 2013 in cartoons A selection of some of the best cartoons published during 2013 in IFR Asia. To see the digital version of this report, please click here.