Just How Vulnerable Is Asia To The Current US Sub-Prime Crisis?

If you ask Asian banks about their exposure to US Sub-Prime debt, they would probably say that the exposure is pretty small. In fact, Asian central banks also agree with this notion. Unlike some hedge funds with nearly 100% exposure to the sector, the percentage of exposure to US Sub-Prime trough CDO's are not significant enough to dent the bank's earnings and value. Income streams of these banks are diversified enough to absorb the shocks. But that's in the ideal world, where current correlations regimes stay constant.

But we all know that during a crisis situation, correlations can change, and a seemingly isolated case can evolve into a full blown crisis that affects everything. Now we don't know if the banks are thinking about this situation or not. But risk management best practice dictates that they should.