02 May 2013 (12:15 pm-1:45 pm, Hall 2, Room 3)

Asian financial systems have, in recent years, become less reliant on traditional sources of financing. Asian savings now feature more prominently as a source of capital in the region, with these flows increasingly being disintermediated through the region's financial centres, rather than elsewhere. Despite these improvements, there remain significant pockets of deficient funding, most notably infrastructure in India and most ASEAN economies.

This infrastructure gap is a major obstacle hindering the attainment of GDP growth rates seen in Northeast Asia. With high investment needs, foreign funding, perhaps in significant proportions, seems inevitable to fill the gap. Meeting this challenge seems to be a fundamental precondition in facilitating the region's ongoing specialisation and continued move up the value chain.

This seminar will explore the extent to which this gap can be closed by intra-regional flows - that is, by Asia financing Asia. This challenge has a number of dimensions:

• Will Northeast Asia have the necessary savings to help fund the infrastructure build in India and ASEAN given their own funding needs related to rapidly aging populations and slower growth? How can they overcome their home bias?
• Given the changes to the international financial architecture, what sorts of structures and instruments are necessary to facilitate the cross-regional funding of India and ASEAN's infrastructure build as banks exit this market?
• What sorts of comfort levels can be provided to potential investors? Are these politically feasible? Relatedly, what is the role of the public sector in this process?

A diverse panel of experts will explore these issues with a view to charting the opportunities and pitfalls that lie ahead.

ANZ is proud to support the ADB's Annual Meeting through the Asia Financing Asia seminar series, the first of which - The Rise of the Asian Capital Account and Portfolio Integration - was held at the 2012 ADB Annual Meeting.

Panelists:

Subir Gokarn
Director of Research, Brookings India

Justin McNab
Executive Director, Global Utilities and Infrastructure, ANZ

Mahendra Siregar
Deputy Minister for Finance, Indonesia

Hiroshi Watanabe
Executive Managing Director, Japan Bank for International Cooperation

Host: Mark Robinson
CEO Europe, Middle East, America & India, ANZ

Moderator: Richard Yetsenga
Head of Global Markets Research, ANZ