They are the result of the country's so-called Big Bang, a massive wave of deregulation that began three years ago to open up Japan's rigid financial system. Tokyo-based business consultant Yukio Toshida says that banks are competing fiercely for retail customers as they race to roll out more modernized services. For instance, he notes that Japan's Sakura Bank is now installing automatic teller machines in 500 convenience stores. In Japan, in financial services, until recently, a bank was a bank, and an insurance company was an insurance company, and an investment bank was merely an investment bank. But because of influence from America and Europe, banks can do the business of insurance.
Insurance can do the bank's business, etc.
Asia's main stock exchanges are also in a process of transformation. They are ushering in new ways of trading to keep a competitive edge and maintain their markets' liquidity. Earlier this year, Hong Kong announced the merger of its equity and futures markets to cut trading costs. Last month, it launched a new exchange for high-tech companies called the GEM, or the Growth Enterprise Market. Henry Law, a spokesman for the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, says a new system will be installed early next year that will allow investors to place their orders directly through an electronic system, bypassing clerks for the first time.