Representatives from member economies of the Asia Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC) met in Hong Kong for a Workshop on Development of Domestic Bond Markets on 3-4 August 1999. During the two-day Workshop, participants discussed their report on the Compendium of Sound Practices, which would serve as guidelines to facilitate the development of domestic bond markets in APEC member economies.
The Workshop is an important part of the Collaborative Initiative launched by the APEC Finance Ministers at their meeting in Kananaskis, Canada in May 1998. Hong Kong, China is the co-ordinator of the Collaborative Initiative.
The Asian financial crisis has highlighted the problems of excessive reliance on foreign and volatile short-term financing, given the potential problems of currency and maturity mismatches. There is clear consensus that a key priority for the region is to develop deeper, longer-maturity, more stable and more transparent debt markets in Asia to recycle the large amount of Asian domestic savings which generally exceed 30% of GDP. Under the Collaborative Initiative, five areas have been identified as critical to the development of domestic bond markets, namely Government Policies, Regulatory Framework, Market Infrastructure, Liquidity and Risk Management. The report on the Compendium of Sound Practices would address the essential elements under each of these five areas. Upon finalisation, the report would be submitted to the APEC Finance and Central Bank Deputies Meeting to be held on 26-27 August in Wellington, New Zealand. A website is also being launched under the Collaborative Initiative to serve as a resource centre for sharing information about the debt markets in APEC member economies.
Since the launch of the Collaborative Initiative, Hong Kong, China has organised three meetings to pursue the work related to domestic bond market development. Representatives from finance ministries, central banks and monetary authorities of Australia; Brunei Darussalam; Canada; People's Republic of China; Hong Kong, China; Indonesia; Japan; Republic of Korea; Malaysia; New Zealand; Peru; Republic of the Philippines; Russia; Singapore; Chinese Taipei; Thailand and the United States of America have attended these meetings and contributed towards the work of the Collaborative Initiative. Representatives from the Asian Development Bank, the Bank for International Settlements, the International Finance Corporation, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank also attended these meetings and participated in this work.
Hong Kong Monetary Authority
4 August 1999
