This can be seen from recent evidence of financial institutions in the region that have successfully adopted “double bottom line” strategies that combine enhanced financial access goals with profitability, thus enabling the financial inclusion agenda to be achieved in a responsible and sustainable manner. Institutions in several parts of Asia have been effective in utilising innovative means of outreach to overcome geographical and cost barriers in delivering essential financial services such as microcredit, affordable insurance, avenues for savings, and accessible payments and remittance services. Governments in the region continue with measures to bridge the gap with the necessary financial infrastructure, developing rules for orderly and responsible business conduct, and catalysing the volume of financial transactions by channelling social transfers, wages or pensions through the formal financial system. Such advancements by the region in financial inclusion contribute towards eradicating poverty and uplifting living standards. As growth in the region continues, it will become even more important to ensure that such growth does not further widen the social divide and disenfranchise those who remain excluded from its benefits. An inclusive growth process in the region, which draws marginalised segments into the formal financial system and that empowers small businesses and consumers already within the financial system to better utilise financial services, will enhance the contribution of this segment of the population to the economic growth process. Fourth, is the greater regional economic and financial integration in Asia which has been supported by strengthened institutional frameworks for safeguarding regional financial stability and a deepening of regional cooperation.

In the more recent period, this trend has been reinforced with increased overseas investments by Korea and Malaysia. Eight, engaging the emergence of large new markets in the region. Overall, as a high level of integration exists at the regional level in terms of trade and FDI, shifts in trading and investment patterns both from external sources into the region and within the region itself have been a dynamic process. Hence, given the emergence of large new markets in the region, the opportunities present in these markets show complementarities in the region. Countries in the region need to therefore focus on these complementarities in new potential areas of growth. In an  BIS Review 43/2003  3  increasingly competitive environment, economic progress in the region is benefiting from the strategic specialisations which are supported by the leverage on comparative advantages. Nine, regional cooperation gathers momentum Given the existing mutual interest amongst countries in the region, regional cooperation efforts are gathering momentum in East Asia, notably in the context of ASEAN+3 and EMEAP. To-date, the focus of such cooperation by Governments has been on regional surveillance, developing institutional arrangements and according high priority to co-operation in trade and investment. The drive toward regional cooperation will continue to increasingly focus on enhancing regional trade and investment linkages to maximise the comparative advantage of each member country. Toward this end, studies have already been commissioned to explore the feasibility and identify the preconditions for the creation of an Asian common market, a logical long-term objective of regional cooperation.