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"In most cases, they are stand-alone markets. Change is starting, especially in Asia"
Marilyn Spearing, Deutsche Bank |
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“The mood of Asia, Africa and the Middle East to that of Europe and the US is night and day,” says Karen Fawcett, group head, transaction banking, at Standard Chartered in Singapore. “Activity will inevitably be focused towards developing markets because the economies are more healthy.” As economic activity is refocused, the demand for improved liquidity management in emerging markets can only grow stronger.
Emerging markets exhibit many of the characteristics, requirements and challenges that applied in western Europe and other developed markets in previous years. Of course, the potential technology now available to a treasurer in Asia is vastly superior to that on offer to his counterpart in southern Europe in the 1980s. But how helpful is technology in heavily regulated markets with currency controls, for example? Michael Cannon, head of payments and cash management, Europe, at HSBC, says that the bank’s inevitable focus is technology because international banks have only modest influence on policies in domestic markets and are therefore unlikely to achieve the regulatory change necessary to solve the problems associated with moving or making use of money in tricky markets.