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With the expected cooling of the Chinese economy, will foreign direct investment in the region become less China-centric and be diverted into other countries in Asia?

Thailand was the first into the Asian crisis and probably the last country to emerge from it. Trading volumes on the local bourse were depressed for many years, but in 2003 the market burst into life as local and foreign investors joined forces to quaff the heady cocktail of restructured corporate and individual balance sheets, consumer spending, rising profits, low valuations, attractive yields and political stability. Having raced ahead by 117% last year, the Stock Exchange of Thailand index closed 2003 at 772, soon hit a 2004 high of 794 and then crashed back to earth, falling almost 27% to a 2004 low of 581.

There is no denying that FX is one of the most competitive and costly businesses in banking. But it can also be one of the most profitable. Banks across the region are spending big on technology, shifting their focus to FX options, and reporting some impressive profits. Keri Geiger reports.

While the bond market in Australia has been steaming ahead in terms of issuance, it still has a long way to go until it can lay claim to being a broad and rich alternative for investors and corporates alike. But the problem is, development seems to have come to a stop. Chris Cockerill reports.

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Find out who the winners are in Asiamoney's 14th FX Poll. See who managed to storm to the top, who fell down and who is simply the best at FX in Asia.

To get the inside track on what investors think of Malaysia, Asiamoney asked three fund managers in Asia for their views and perspectives on the market.

3G international bonds, local currency bonds, equity capital markets, syndicated loans, M&A and investment bank fee income.

The US$227 million MengNiu Dairy listing was an exercise in simplicity and seamless execution. Mark B. Johnson reports on just how easy it can be to skim money from the market.

Australia

This month, Asiamoney reveals the results of the14th annual FX poll. Results that show competition in the FX industry is as strong as ever. But before we congratulate the winners of the poll, it's important to state just why this poll is significant and what it actually provides. In short, Asiamoney does not run this poll just to provide banks with a cheap marketing tool that they can put in their pitch books. Neither is it so we can pat banks on the back and tell them what a great job they are doing in an attempt to curry favour. No, this poll's primary purpose, along with all Asiamoney polls, is to provide the corporate treasurer, the chief financial officer and other decision making executives with objective information that can help them decide which financial institutions to mandate. Asiamoney believes that this poll, along with its other polls, does just that. And so when conclusions are drawn, corporates are better informed and add to their competitive advantage. With this in mind, Asiamoney would like to congratulate the winners of this year's poll, Citigroup and Deutsche Bank - according to the experiences of the region's top executives - for providing the best overall foreign exchange services to corporates and financial institutions in Asia. Also in this issue, we take a look at how banks, no matter how experienced or how good their track records are, can still make a mess of taking your company public. Despite the excuses and spin, BNP Paribas and Morgan Stanley showed the market just not what to do with their disastrous China Shipping IPO.

A storm is blowing through Taiwan's financial market. At the centre of the tempest lie Taiwan's Ministry of Finance and its National Tax Administration. The island's bankers are running for cover and already starting to count the cost, writes Dominic Jones.