Impaired intelligence

Brokers' analysts in Asia have been arrested for taking their duties too seriously. But that's a minor reason for the poor quality of the region's research. Corporate disclosure is limited and accounting standards are poor. And analysts are young, inexperienced, harassed by overmighty corporate finance departments and intent on careers outside research. By Michael Steinberger.

One sweeping observation can safely be made about investing in Asia ­ Asian companies have a problem with disclosure. No incident did more to highlight this than the Tsingtao debacle two years ago. In April 1995, investors learnt that Tsingtao, China’s biggest brewery and the best known of the “H” shares (mainland firms listed in Hong Kong), had not, as its prospectus had promised, used $114 million raised during its 1993 flotation to expand capacity.

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