integration is happening at two levels : among jurisdictions and among participants 11. over the last three years, market integration has been taking place in asian financial markets. it is steadily making progress in individual asset classes, among small groups of countries, sometimes bilaterally, where there is common interest and where markets and institutions are at similar stages of development. 12. we can see evidence of market integration among jurisdictions in several areas : a. banking. asean is in discussions to complete a banking integration framework that will allow qualified asean banks to progressively expand in each other ’ s ’ jurisdictions. this initiative aims to create opportunities to strengthen regional banks in asean and improve banking services offered to local markets. even in other asian countries where cross - border bank financing is restricted, we are seeing pockets opening up. for example, since china issued cross - border rmb rules for suzhou industrial park ( sip ) and tianjin eco city ( tec ) in the middle of the year, about rmb 2 billion of loans have been approved from singapore - based banks to companies in the two industrial parks. b. equity markets. in 2012, stock exchanges and regulators in malaysia, thailand and singapore launched the asean trading link to offer easy access to each other ’ s stock markets. singapore and china have also established a direct listing framework for chinese companies last year. the framework will facilitate interested chinese companies seeking direct listing opportunities in singapore. c. debt markets. asean securities regulators have since april last year implemented common disclosure standards, which would allow issuers to issue debt securities across various asean markets with a single prospectus. under this scheme, the time required to issue in multiple markets will be the same as that for issuing in one market, reaping both cost and time savings for issuers. the cross border rmb channels with sip and tec, which i mentioned earlier, would also allow corporates in these locations to issue rmb bonds in singapore. these initiatives in the debt and equity markets will allow companies to diversify their sources of funding abroad, more easily tap investors in overseas markets as well as broaden the array of debt investment choices in local markets. d. fund management. there are two similar initiatives for mutual recognition of collective investment schemes in asia. the first, among singapore, malaysia and thailand, led by the asean securities regulators. the second, involving singapore, korea, australia and new zealand, called the asian region funds passport under the auspices of apec. these initiatives will widen the opportunities for investors and fund

mr stals discusses regional trade and financial integration in the southern african development community address by the governor of the south african reserve bank, dr chris stals, at a meeting for business people arranged by the reserve bank of zimbabwe in harare, zimbabwe on18 june 1999. reasons why international financial cooperation is important there is a worldwide trend towards an integration of financial markets. this process of globalisation is no longer restricted to the industrial countries of the world, but emerging markets, countries in transformation and the developing countries of the world are all being drawn into this process. in many parts of the world, this process of globalisation goes through an intermediate phase, and that is one of regional economic cooperation or integration. the european union, which has been developing over the past thirty years, has now reached the advanced stage of almost full financial integration. there are many other examples, such as mercosur in south america, nafta in north america, and asean in east asia, where similar initiatives for economic integration are in progress. the smaller countries of the world can easily be marginalised in this process of global financial integration, unless they form part of some regional cooperation arrangement to guide them into this highly competitive global system of integrated financial markets. the southern african development community ( sadc ) provides the opportunity for the countries of southern africa to approach the process of global financial integration through first combining forces in a regional cooperation arrangement that will, in a second phase, facilitate the real worldwide integration process. there are, of course, a number of other more localised reasons why financial integration within the southern africa region will hold advantages for all participating countries. these can be summarised as follows : • the expansion of trade between southern african states will be supported by a simultaneous integration of the financial sector. payment and settlements will be facilitated by the removal of unnecessary financial obstructions and constraints. • the extension of services across borders will be made easier. such services can include insurance, business, legal advice and assistance, engineering, architectural, medical, and other professional services. • the movement of people within the region will become easier in support of activities such as tourism, inter - governmental services, exchange of skills, and the mobility of labour. • it is of vital importance for the southern africa region that maximum use shall be made of scarce resources. the coordination and sharing of limited resources such as skills, technological infrastructure and financial systems will contribute to a higher rate of economic development for the region as a whole. what has been