This paper surveys the nature of capital inflows into Asia since the peak of the US dollar in the first quarter of 2002 and the policy responses to them. Portfolio equity flows have become more volatile and more responsive to global equity market developments. Inflows into local bond markets...

This article discusses two models of global banking, the multinational model and the international model. The global financial crisis demonstrated the greater resilience of the multinational model to strains in the wholesale funding markets. This article reviews long-term trend in global banking...

The increase in the TARGET2 balance for the Bundesbank has led to a debate in Germany about the appropriate interpretation and policy response, if any. In this paper we review the evidence for the current account financing interpretation, and find it wanting in explaining the data in 2012. BIS...

The financial crisis has led to a reconsideration of banks’ global business models. Using a dataset derived from the BIS banking statistics, this paper studies the geography of global banking. It distinguishes between “international” and “multinational” banks, their respective funding...

At times of heightened global equity and bond market volatility, high-yielding currencies tend to depreciate while low-yielding ones tend to serve as a "safe haven". The whole spectrum of sensitivity to global volatility is represented among Asia-Pacific currencies.

Official holdings of US dollar reserves are partly invested outside the United States. These offshore investments do not strictly speaking finance the US current account, but do support the US dollar. Offshore holdings grow fast when intervention is large.

The liquidity of Asian local currency bond markets varies with overall size, turnover, issue size and dispersion of holdings. Recently, returns on higher-yielding instruments have led local currency bonds to outperform US Treasuries in aggregate.

Asian local currency bonds offer diversification potential in global bond portfolios.