Asia Capital Markets Report 2026

Despite heightened trade policy uncertainty and geopolitical tensions, Asian capital markets continued to provide essential financing to both sovereigns and corporates in 2025 when faced with increasing funding needs. As during other periods of stress, capital markets supported the real sector and governments. However, initial public offering activity contracted by 11% , relative to its 2022‑2024 average, while it increased by 37% in the rest of the world.

Strong economic growth and the rise of globally competitive firms have not fully translated into stronger equity market performance across much of Asia. Shareholder returns and payout ratios remain modest, and many firms continue to trade below book value (i.e. price-to-book ratios below 1). While this reflects firm‑level weaknesses, including low profitability and returns below cost of capital, broader structural and market related factors continue to weigh on valuations and investor participation across many Asian markets.

Institutional investors continue to play a relatively limited role in many Asian equity markets, where ownership remains concentrated among corporate, public‑sector and strategic shareholders. While stewardship frameworks and investor engagement practices have expanded across the region, engagement remains largely private and consensual, with institutional investors often facing structural and operational barriers to active ownership.

Human capital disclosure continues to expand, reflecting growing recognition of workforce‑related risks and opportunities. In Asia, 15% of listed companies disclose human capital information compared to 22% globally. While reporting practices have improved, disclosure remains uneven across jurisdictions and metrics, highlighting the need for greater consistency, comparability and decision‑useful information for investors.

Recently, blockchain‑based crypto‑asset transactions – including stablecoins – have grown the most in Asia among all regions. This is due to high adoption rates in populous Asian jurisdictions such as India, Indonesia, Viet Nam, the Philippines and Pakistan, and a rapidly growing internet user base and young, tech‑savvy populations. Financial inflows into crypto‑assets vary significantly across jurisdictions. In the 12 months to June 2025, India and Korea had the largest inflows in absolute terms, while Viet Nam had the highest inflows relative to GDP, at nearly 50% of GDP.