This Technical Note analyzes and quantifies the effect of aging in Japan-both at the national and regional levels-on the nature of financial intermediation. Mounting demographic headwinds constitute a major challenge for regional financial institutions in Japan. According to prefectural...

In just over a decade after independence, the three Baltic countries, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, have transformed themselves into fully functioning, small open-market economies that will be joining the European Union. Capital Markets and Financial Intermediation in The Baltics analyzes the...

The Hong Kong Special Administrative Regime (HKSAR) is home to a fast-growing and highly international investment fund industry. The public investment fund industry authorized in HKSAR has grown rapidly from USD 628 billion in 2008 to USD 1.6 trillion in net asset value (NAV) in 2020. The...