The Development of Effective Securities Markets Gary Schinasi International Monetary Fund One of the more important lessons of the crisis of the 1990s¿^not just the Asian Crisis¿is that the performance and structure of a country's financial system is an important fundamental factor for assessing that coimtry's overall economic performance and prospects, and as a destination for investment and asset returns. Market participants that are presently managing international portfolios now understand this very well. And as we all know, many countries are making strong efforts to reform their financial infrastructures, and move their financial systems more in the direction of a market-intermediated financial system and away from an exclusively bank-intermediated system. These reform efforts are putting in place some of the important infrastructure elements that are necessary for developing effective securities markets. However, emphasis should be placed on the word necessary: as many of these measures, and all of them taken together, are only necessary and not sufficient for estabUshing effective security markets.

Not only provides up-to-date data regarding the current condition of Asian bond markets, it provides an assessment of the outlook of bond markets in Asia, draws conclusions and provides a blueprint for development for policymakers and discusses emerging investment opportunities in the field

Asia's Debt Capital Markets: Opportunities and Prospects.- Opportunities and Challenges in Asian Bond Markets.- Developing Asian Bond Markets Using Securitization and Credit Guarantees.- Contemporary Markets for Asian Debt Capital Market Instruments.- The Role of Reform.- Institutional Reform and Economic Development.- Reforming China's Bond Markets: Development prospects and the effects of corporate behavior.- Improving the Policy Environment for Private Sector Participation in the Development of Local Currency and Regional Bond Markets in APEC: Report of a financial sector survey.- Strategies for Development.- Essential Changes in National Law and Regulation: Impediments to cross-border investment in Asian bond markets.- Policy Concerns and the Value of Regional Markets.- Promoting Market Development with Structured Finance and Regional Credit Enhancement.- Building a Settlement Infrastructure for the Asian Bond Markets: Asiasettle.