What are the chances of Asia seeing a major Enron or Worldcom-style disaster and analysts missing out on it
Oertli It can't be excluded, but Asia may be in better shape than what we see overseas. We already went through one big crisis five years ago that taught us to look more closely at asset valuations since corporates had mostly little or no earnings. And there was also a wrong perception that Asian companies have lower accounting standards than elsewhere, hence people were habitually looking at the balance sheet more closely. Lastly, Asia's corporates are often family owned and therefore equity protection comes before short-term earnings performance.
In this new environment of scrutiny facing your...
