Asia-Pac banks now dominant player in region's cross-border lending

Singapore

BANKS in Asia-Pacific have taken up the mantle for lending within the region from European banks, as cross-border banking activity picked up again from the fall during the global financial crisis.

And in a reversal of the trend before 2008, banks in Singapore have started borrowing from advanced economies on a net basis and lending most of the funds to emerging economies in Asia, said the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) on Sunday.