Financial systems and the real economy

Joint conference of Bank Negara Malaysia and the Bank for International Settlements on "Financial systems and the real economy", Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 17-18 October 2016.

The great financial crisis of 2007-08 and the recession have generated active debate on the role of financial systems on the real economy. In particular, central banks have shown increased interest in how financial systems can evolve to maximise their contribution to the real economy. Many Asia-Pacific economies have also experienced a rapid growth in household debt since the crisis. Against this background, the BIS Representative Office for Asia and the Pacific and Bank Negara Malaysia co-hosted a conference on financial systems and the real economy. The conference marked the completion of the BIS Asian Office's research programme in this area. Papers presented at the conference covered macroprudential policies and firm financing; household credit, growth and inequality; capital structure in emerging Asia; foreign banks and credit conditions in emerging market economies; household credit and the effectiveness of monetary and macroprudential policies in Asia-Pacific; and household indebtedness and debt repayment capacity.

The opening remarks, keynote speech and papers presented at the conference have been published as BIS Papers No 91 in March 2017.