The Rise of Asia in Global Finance I: Between Continuity and Change

Asia – or more precisely Asian governments and financial institutions - have become increasingly important actors within the global financial system. Collectively, Asian governments hold more than US$5.5 trillion in official currency reserves. The region both hosts the world’s single largest pension fund and controls more than 30% of global pension assets. More generally, Asian financial institutions – from banks to investors and stock exchanges - have become increasingly prominent players in global financial markets. In this sense, the (financial) rise of Asia matters for international affairs not merely because of the sheer volume of finance capital that originates from the wider Asian region, impressive as it is. Individually and collectively, drawing from extensive original research, the contributions to this panel explore how Asian financial systems differ from the existing US-dominated global financial order. Focusing on issues such as patient capital, state activism, industrial policy and cross-border investment, the papers interrogate key features of how global finance is thought to operate, providing novel conceptualisations of the distinctiveness of Asian practices. Overall, we can observe substantial continuity of differences despite an increasing integration into global financial circuits.