IFR Asia Asian Bank Capital Roundtable 2016: Roundtable participants John Barry National Australia Bank John Barry is head of capital financing for Asia, with responsibility for debt capital markets, infrastructure financing and all forms of specialised finance, including big-ticket leasing in the aviation and shipping industries. He is based in Hong Kong. Barry was formerly head of securitisation at NAB in Melbourne, and has spent 15 years in the securitisation market at ANZ and NAB.   Sean Cha

Bank capital has long been a hot topic in Asia, but the asset class has so far failed to ignite the kind of excitement that the Basel reforms once promised – at least outside of Australia. That is all about to change. When the global financial crisis hit in 2008, Asia’s banks were able to sit back and watch the mayhem unfold from afar. The vast majority of the region’s financial institutions boasted far healthier balance sheets than their US and European peers, with stable deposits and higher ca

IFR ASIA: Well, there’s always been a degree of resistance to Basel in Asia. India, China, you name it, they never wanted to apply these rules to a state-owned system, but they’ve got them. It’s sort of the same with TLAC. It’s happening whether you like it or not. SEAN MCNELIS, HSBC: In Asia central banks and regulators of course want the implementation to reflect the business models of banks in the region – ie, banks tend to be primarily deposit-funded and are in many cases state-owned. I thin

IFR ASIA: Welcome. Sean, you took part in a similar discussion we hosted almost three years ago, so perhaps you’re the best to kick this off. Where do we stand with bank capital in Asia? How much capital do banks really need here? SEAN MCNELIS, HSBC: I think when we were having this discussion three years ago, there was still a lack of clarity on the instrument criteria for Additional Tier 1 and Tier 2 in some jurisdictions, and we hadn’t at that time seen the first wave of AT1 and T2 issuance b