Financial Reforms and Bank Competition among Emerging Asian Countries

Abstract

Asian economies have travelled a long journey of introduction of their financial reforms in the form of interest rate deregulation, credit expansion, enhanced competition, etc. In the recent past the coining of term too-big-to-fail has prompted the policymakers to revisit the role of state in the banking industry. In this environment, the role of diversified portfolio of banking structure is widely acknowledged. It puts forth a scope to inquiry about the level of competition in the banking industry for leading growth pole of the World. The present study is an attempt to explore the inter-temporal behaviour of competition in emerging Asian economies particularly after financial reforms period. In terms of share of top banks in total assets of banking industry, it is found that Bangladesh and India are having lesser concentration, whereas most of the select Asian economies have been observed for highly concentrated banking systems. As per the Lerner index, enhanced bank competition has been noticed for Malaysia, Indonesia, Pakistan, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. The figures for Boone indicators suggests for higher competitive banking structure in Bangladesh, India, Singapore and Sri Lanka and lower in China and Malaysia. Hong Kong and Korean banking industries are marked with the presence of monopoly power.

Keywords: Financial Reforms, Bank, Asian Countries

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