Editorial

It's been an amazing 10 years. Since Asia Risk's first issue in November 1995, Asia's risk management and derivatives industry has shifted from US dollar-dominated markets, the collapse of Barings and the onset of the Asian crisis, to having liquid, robust onshore swaps and options markets, Basel II and complex retail structured products.

These changes are best seen from the headline stories in the November 95 issue of Asia Risk. At the time, the articles covered forex swaps, options, convertibles and digital options - now a staple of the Asian markets. A story about how the Barings saga boosted software sales shows how quickly Asian institutions have responded to the need for sound risk management and developed sophisticated know-how and systems over the years.

The decade also saw the birth of the Basel II guidelines in 1999 to replace the current Basel framework, which has been in place since 1988. The implementation of Basel II has lifted risk management near to the top of the agenda at Asian institutions. An advertisement in the November 1995 issue by Chemical Bank and Jardine Fleming - both part of what is now JP Morgan - serves as a clear reminder of how banks have changed as a result of competition, and how this competition has fuelled innovation in risk management and derivatives.

Derivatives specialists in the region have also seen their careers take off. Water Cheung, featured in our November 1995 issue as head of regional Asian currency and interest rate trading at CIBC/Wood Gundy Financial Products in Singapore, is now DBS Bank's MD and head of global financial markets for Greater China.

In this month's issue, we're pleased to bring you our 10-year anniversary special report, a compilation of essays written specially for Asia Risk by 12 contributors about developments in the Asian derivatives markets over the past decade. These personalities have all reached new pinnacles of their careers over the past 10 years, and we would like to say a special thank you to them for taking time off their busy schedules to write these.