There have been various changes recently at senior management level in banks right across the board in Asia.

HSBC have shuffled around a range of personnel as part of their latest round of modernization strategies. The commercial banking business in Asia Pacific has seen more than it's fair share of these appointments. It was announced that the new head of commercial banking for international countries would be Sanjay Prakash. This extensive sphere of influence will include Brunei, the Maldives, Mauritius, New Zealand, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand, Macau and Vietnam. He has already accumulated an extensive CV, and will be moving to his new role from his previous position as regional head of business management for commercial banking in Asia Pacific.

Elsewhere, Terence Chiu is taking over from Montgomery Ho as the commercial banking head in China. He will be making the short journey from Hong Kong to the mainland China team. Similarly, Chiu has an impressive range of experience in the industry. He had been in charge of the global trade and receivables finance business in Hong Kong and Macau. His previous role is being replaced by Rachel Wei, formerly managing director for middle market enterprises for commercial banking in Hong Kong.

The task of heading up Indonesia's commercial banking sector has fallen to Quang Buu Huynh, who is succeeding Amanda Murphy. Amanda will be heading to the UK to take charge of the business banking division. Previously Quang was regional head of international global trade and receivables finance.

In other news, Ju Zhao, who was joint head of China at UBS – the Switzerland-based global financial services company – has asked to take a sabbatical, in order to assume the position of visiting fellow at Harvard. This will take effect from December and last for 12 months until the end of 2014.

During his absence, Wei Cai will stay in Asia as the joint head of China. Providing it is feasible amongst his Harvard commitments, Ju will still advise in the coverage of a selection of key UBS clients.

Last September, Honggui Li, who had been the joint head of the UBS investment banking division, shifted to the Hong Kong office to join the China managing director group.

Over the past decade or so, China has been emerging from relative international economic isolation. In gradually opening up its potentially massive trading resources to the global market, one aspect that had always been at the forefront of its philosophy has been promoting the national currency, the yuan. There are signs that this is starting to show real dividends.

The fact is, the yuan accounted for 8.7% of letters of credit and collections that were used in international trade finance this October. This figure is only surpassed by the US dollar; indeed it eclipses the 6.6% share enjoyed by the euro, according to a statement released by the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication.

China has always sought a much greater role for its currency in the international trade and investment markets. In order to achieve this, it has been steadily loosening controls as part of a ‘once in a generation' economic overhaul undertaken last month. Agreements have been signed that involve trading the currency more freely in financial centres right across the world, from Singapore to London to New York.

A survey undertaken by Bloomberg reached some equally poignant findings about the far eastern trading superpower. Currently gaining enough financial clout to be measured as the world's second largest economy, it is forecast that China may grow by up to 7.6% this year. This figure compares with an average of a mere 1.1% for the 'Group of 10' developed nations.

This trend was highlighted in the statement by David Simmonds, head of currency and emerging market strategy at Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc: “The yuan is on the way to become a truly, truly gigantic market. Volumes will continue to grow with the abolition of the offshore market and with broader liberalization”.

The People's Bank of China have outlined plans that will see an end to the practice of daily currency intervention. This is a further example of the ruling party's drive to modernize the national economy. In fact, HSBC Holdings plc recently forecast that the yuan, which had claimed to a 20-year high this October, will become the main tender of global trade after the US dollar and euro, by 2015.

The Japanese government have announced that the nation's economy grew 0.3% during the period from July to September. This figure is actually down from the initial estimation of 0.5%. What this revised percentage equates to is an annual growth rate of 1.1%, considerably lower than the initial projection of 1.9%.

The far eastern economic powerhouse has been suffering years of economic stagnation, particularly when set against the boom years of the 1990s. In order to combat this deterioration, Japan has unveiled various measures aimed to revive their economy as aggressively as possible.

According to analysts many of these steps are already beginning to have considerable impact on Japan's economy. Indeed, it seems likely that the nation's financial fortunes look set to pick up the pace in the next quarter, despite that downward revision.

Yasuo Yamamoto, a senior economist at Tokyo's Mizuho Research Institute, commented: “there are already signs that exports and capital expenditure are recovering so I am not pessimistic about the outlook. Economic growth should start accelerating again in the fourth quarter as domestic demand strengthens before the sales tax increase”.

Last October the Japanese prime minister, Shinzo Abe, stated the government would raise the rate of sales tax from 5% to 8% from 1 April 2014. Economists have put forward the case that such an increase is necessary to help reduce the nation's overall public debt – currently standing at around 230% of Japan's gross domestic product. This figure actually means that Japan has the largest such debt amongst the major industrialised nations. These economic measures rarely pass without a counter argument; indeed there have been concerns raised that upping the sales tax rate might impinge of domestic demand.

The government has reacted to these fears, and in order to lessen the impact of the 3% rise in sales tax, a stimulus package has just been announced. This will see ¥5.5 trillion being injected into the market. Economic analysts have stated that this move is likely to neutralize any negative impact the rise in sales tax might have on the domestic market.

After all the uncertainty in the financial markets following the 2009 global slump, matters seems to have stabilized for the former UK protectorate. Following on from a key discussion paper produced by its legislative council, Hong Kong's government may well present a bill to its lawmakers that would allow it to raise finance through Islamic bonds. It is anticipated this could be presented as early as the first financial quarter of 2014.

The reason Islamic bonds are considered to be worth serious consideration, from an economical point of view, is due to the fluctuating trends in global markets. The middle east is proving to be an increasingly lucrative region of the world, with a combination of oil wealth and openness towards international markets proving to be irresistible to investors. The competition to secure a place in this trading region is becoming ever more competitive. Financial centres devoted to Islamic business enterprises are opening branches throughout the middle east, stretching their operations as far as the Pacific rim.

The Hong Kong government's bill will grant them permission to issue sukuk, as part of its existing bond programme. Under this scheme, 107.5 million Hong Kong dollars-worth of bonds have been issued (with 90 billion outstanding as of November 15th). Amongst the various diktats outlined in the paper is a call for amendments to existing legislation that allows the use of 'special purpose vehicles', in other words, investment certificates that follow religious guidelines. Included under this heading are areas such as bans on gambling.

The notion of a sukuk for Hong Kong is far from a recent concept. In fact, the idea was broached back in 2008, when its airport authority tabled the possibility of selling a sukuk of up to $1 billion. So far this has never progressed as far as a sale.

The next step is for Hong Kong's government to establish a working group to consider the way forward. They will be focusing on the practicalities of evolving from the present finance regime, which is self-regulating, to a new version administered by an Independent Insurance Authority.