Monetary and financial cooperation in Asia: market and institutions

"The Eastern Asian nations (China, Japan and Korea) and the ASEAN countries have been a centre of the world’s economic growth since 1950s, and also an origin of several financial crises. This paper deals with the monetary and financial cooperation which took place in this area, from a historical perspective. Macro-economic performances of this area have been explained from the following points of view: (1) Export-oriented growth, combined with protectionism and cheap money (2) State-led regulation over money market and capital movement (3) Economic policy consulted by international institutions (IMF, IBRD, etc) On the other hand, less attention has been paid on the function of markets and the role of intra-Asian financial cooperation. Taking notice of these points, this paper tries to provide an alternative view on the monetary and financial cooperation in Asia. In this paper, a particular focus is to be brought on the development of “swap” operations in this region. Swap operations have been one of the most important tools of the international financial and monetary cooperation. The swap network among central banks has its origin in the bilateral collaboration between the FRB of New York and the Bank of England in the 1920s (James, 1996, p.160). The swap network was revived in the 1950s, this time under the initiative of the Bank for International Settlements. In the 1960s, the swap network played a role in the Multilateral Surveillance scheme to cope with the pound sterling crisis. In 1966, however, the FRB, suffering balance of payments trouble, developed its own bilateral swap network, which provoked a severe criticism from European countries. The aim of currency swaps in the era of fixed exchange rates, was “to enable the monetary authorities to retain control over the course of events” (BIS, cited in Toniolo/ Clement, 2005, p.388). Afterwards, in the 1970s, the role of swap began to change: instead of being the back-door agreement among the central banks, the swap network became a “ruler” to discipline the monetary policy of the member countries…The swap operation thus symbolizes the role of market and institution in the course of international financial and monetary cooperation, from the fixed rate regime to the free float regime, and from the period of reconstruction and growth to that of recession and crises. The Asian countries studied this process as contemporary witnesses. Intra-Asian cooperation developed, although slowly, after the 1950s, inside and outside the sterling area (Schenk, 1994). This paper follows the incidents concerning the development of swap networks in Asia from the 1950s onwards, in contrast to the European and American developments. The following topics will be discussed: The post-war “trade triangle” in theory and practice: China, Japan and the South-East Asia Asian exchanges between the dollar and the sterling: 1950-1960s Multilateral Surveillance Scheme: its impact on the Asian authorities Swap networks in the private sector: international banking in Asia Intra-Asian financial and monetary cooperation during the post-Bretton Woods period: a perspective"