Asia Risk 15: Anita Fung, HSBC

HSBC prides itself on its local markets footprint in Asia as well as on its no-nonsense approach to liquidity risk management. The result is that the bank has been in a strong position to help its clients at times of their greatest need. Christopher Jeffery speaks with its head of global banking and markets for Asia Pacific, Anita Fung

Too much leverage, mismatched positions and a shortage of liquidity were some of reasons that market participants got into trouble during the Asian Financial Crisis in 1997, according to Anita Fung, head of global banking and markets, Asia Pacific, at HSBC. And the entities that learnt from these lessons – typically encouraged or forced to do so by their regulators – have performed better than many of their peers during the financial crisis of 2007–08.

Fung has a prime position from which she