Bank and corporate restructuring in crisis-affected East Asia: from systemic collapse to reconstruction

The East Asian crisis was the result of interactions between massive capital flows and weak domestic institutions. This paper examines the weaknesses in the financial and corporate sectors that were at the heart of the crisis, reviews the economic consequences of these weaknesses and outlines the progress in financial and corporate sector restructuring. Significant progress has been made in reforming East Asian financial sectors. Governments have committed themselves to improving the regulation and supervision of banks and non-bank financial institutions, raising competition in the financial sector, strengthening corporate governance, and developing local capital markets and equity financing. East Asia’s experience has shown that if a systemic crisis in the financial and corporate sectors develops, governments need to put in place coherent frameworks for resolving banking and corporate distress. Governments will also need to segment the crisis and prioritise their responses