Asia Financiers Looking Askance at Western Banks

Credit crunch has investors, regulators questioning the model
By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff
Posted May 16, 2008 4:30 PM CDT
Asia Financiers Looking Askance at Western Banks
In this March 16, 2005 file photo, customers wait at a branch office of China Construction Bank in Shanghai, China.    (AP Photo)

Bankers and regulators across Asia have grown wary of the big US banks they once invited to underwrite major moves, the Economist reports. One Chinese regulator described the West’s big banks to the magazine as “shit,” among signs the East no longer trusts the West’s wisdom, or its regulation model, in the wake of the subprime collapse and the resulting credit crunch.

“After the death, the doctor came,” one Chinese banking reformer noted. Its faith shaken, China is closing doors to Western companies; many banks awaiting approvals for big deals have heard only silence. If this truly sets back China’s march towards a freer market, the Economist warns, it will cost Chinese start-ups investment capital, and force China's people to use subpar banks. (More China stories.)

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