The 2007 CG Watch report, entitled "On A Wing And A Prayer: The Greening of Governance", is the first regional "CG Watch" survey since October 2005 and the first to incorporate Japan. ASGA says it has expanded the survey, tightened the scoring and focussed more closely on how corporate governance rules and best practices are being implemented by companies. There are now 87 questions under five categories: "CG Rules and Practices", "Enforcement", "Political and Regulatory Environment", "Accounting and Auditing Standards", and "CG Culture". At the beginning of the report a regional overview written by Jamie Allen, Secretary General of ACGA, discusses the strengths and weaknesses of the corporate governance regime in each market, while each country chapter now also includes a short regulatory overview written by the ACGA team.

When the report was last published in 2005, Singapore was considered superior in terms of corporate governance. Describing the decision behind the rankings, the Financial Times quoted the report as stating that: "Singapore. . . gives the impression that its reform process has reached an acceptable plateau, while its officials seem less concerned that some key local rules and practices are not in line with global best practices."

The Hong Kong authorities received another boost when it emerged this week that Hong Kong had ranked sixth in the global foreign-exchange market, and seventh in the global foreign-exchange and over-the-counter derivatives market, according to the latest Bank for International Settlements triennial survey results.

Monetary Authority Deputy Chief Executive YK Choi said the survey confirmed that Hong Kong is continuing to build on its position as one of the world's major centres for foreign exchange and derivatives activities.

"Particularly notable from the survey is the significant increase in the trading volume of the Hong Kong dollar, due to the continuing sizeable inflow of capital to Mainland China through the Hong Kong foreign-exchange market. This highlights Hong Kong's important position as a gateway for investment in the Mainland."

According to the survey results, net daily turnover of foreign-exchange transactions rose 70.9% to US$174.6 billion in April, compared with three years previously. While spot transactions grew 6.4% to US$37.9 billion per day, net daily turnover of forward transactions more than doubled, to US$136.7 billion.

Forwards were mainly foreign-exchange transactions and a large proportion was of short maturity of less than seven days. Hong Kong dollar against US dollar remained the most heavily traded currency pair in the local market.

Greater asset-management and hedge-fund activities in Hong Kong, a rise in bank treasury operations, and active carry trade activities were likely to have been the key factors behind the significant growth in these markets. Increasing China-related activities through the Hong Kong foreign-exchange market also stimulated growth, according to the BIS study.