Asian marts in limelight: S'pore aide

Asian marts in limelight: S'pore aide

SINGAPORE (Reuter): The search for alternatives to mature markets in developed countries is boosting the newer markets of Southeast Asia, a senior Singapore economic official said on Saturday.

Lee Ek Tieng, managing director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), told a foreign-exchange forum, "The search for alternatives has pushed the emerging Southeast Asian economies into the limelight."

Diversification and high returns relative to mature markets are among factors favoring the newer markets, he said.

In Singapore, for example, over the past two years the number of treasury-product strategists has doubled, financial specialists gone up close to four times, and economists almost five-fold, Lee said.

He said that as markets grow, opportunities in the region will develop that creative traders can make use of, due to such factors as differences in countries' economic cycles and how investors rate individual corporate issuers.

Among markets with potential is regional cross-currency trading, Lee said. "We should seize the reins and decide for ourselves how we wish the market to evolve, rather than let the trading be located halfway around the world in a foreign center."

More complex and diversified markets and the impact from the international flow of funds mean changes for central bankers and regulators as well, Lee said.

Central banks and official institutions will have to respond to the new environment, and often do so quickly, "thinking on their feet in coming up with a calculated response."

Lee also said market liberalization must not come at the expense of stability. "It is in everybody's interest to have markets that endure," he said.