This second edition of the OECD Asia Capital Markets Report provides an overview of capital market developments across the region. It opens with a chapter on developments in 2025, followed by analysis on stock valuation (Chapter 2), institutional investors (Chapter 3) and human capital (Chapter 4). A focus chapter (Chapter 5) explores crypto-assets. The report discusses key trends, opportunities and challenges in these areas. Each chapter includes policy considerations for policymakers and regulators on capital market development across the region.
Chapter 1 examines recent developments in Asian capital markets, highlighting their diverse levels of development and the dominant role of larger markets. It shows how heightened trade policy uncertainty and geopolitical tensions in 2025 and early 2026 have increased market volatility, affected capital flows and shaped financing conditions across market segments. The chapter also analyses shifts in corporate financing, including greater reliance on secondary equity offerings, alongside developments in private equity, corporate debt and sovereign bond markets.
Chapter 2 analyses the widespread phenomenon of stock undervaluation across Asian equity markets. It analyses stock valuation trends, shareholder returns and payout ratios, and explores the structural factors driving patterns, including ownership structures, capital allocation practices and investor participation. The chapter also reviews the emergence of “value-up” initiatives across the region, comparing their design and early outcomes.
Chapter 3 examines the role of institutional investors in Asian capital markets, including their growing presence as owners and stewards of listed companies. It discusses trends in domestic and foreign institutional ownership, the increasing influence of passive investment strategies and benchmark indices, and evolving stewardship and engagement practices across the region. It also includes an analysis of investor engagement drawing on an original survey of institutional investors participating in regional capital markets.
Chapter 4 reviews recent developments in human capital management across Asia and its growing importance for corporate performance and long-term value creation. It highlights increasing investor and policy attention to workforce-related issues, including talent, skills and employee well-being. The chapter also explores evolving disclosure practices, as well as ongoing challenges related to transparency and comparability of human capital information.
Chapter 5 explores the rapid development of crypto-asset markets in Asia and the increasing participation of both retail and institutional investors. It highlights the growing interconnectedness between crypto-assets and traditional financial markets, as well as the policy challenges associated with financial consumer protection, market integrity, cyber risks and the misuse of crypto-assets for illicit financing.
This report is part of the OECD Capital Market Series, which supports policy discussions on how capital markets can better channel household savings into productive investment in the real economy. It draws on unique OECD datasets as well as original analyses of commercial and publicly available sources. A detailed description of data sources and the methodologies are provided in the Annex. The report is produced under a Japanese government-financed programme aimed at supporting the development of capital markets across Asia.