To provide an understanding of financial globalization from a historical
point of view, this book sheds light on international banking in Asia
before World War II. International banking facilitated the relationship
between Asian economic development and international financial centres.
Focusing on the origins of a wide variety of banks not just from Europe
but beyond Europe, such as the United States and Asia, particularly
Japan and China, this book comprehensively explores competition and
collaboration among international banks in Asia. It clarifies
international banking's role of integrating the global market and the
impact on both ends of the global economy-the international financial
centres in the developed world and the developing economies in Asia.
Economic development in Asia from the late nineteenth century to the
1930s as a part of the globalizing economy mirrors Asia's current role
as the global economic-growth powerhouse. This book focuses on the two
key similarities between Asia's past and present: intra-Asian
relationships and the relationship between Asia and developed economies,
namely, Europe, the United States, and Japan. Getting into the heart of
the relationships, i.e., finance, this book presents a sophisticated and
realistic image of the tangled network of international economic
relations, distinguished from the conventional image of a one-sided
advantage or disadvantage among involved nations.
