Richard Yin noted that the 'triple bottom line' approach to business hasn't taken hold in developing countries as yet. But differences between Asian and western financial markets are to do with different stages of development, he said. "It is not an east/west conflict of culture."

Kingsway is the first company in Hong Kong to offer an SRI fund, and Yin said the usual way he wraps up presentations to clients is to say that Asia "has more to gain" from SRI than the west. After all, Asia contains more than half the world's population which means it has "a smaller buffer" against the negative impacts of environmental degradation, he said.

Yin noted that standards set for Asian companies must be "realistic". A similar point was made by Takehiro Sueyoshi of Japan's Nikko Asset Management. "Environmental and SRI rating agencies in Europe and the US send many questionnaires to the major global companies and financial institutions in Japan. Therefore there is no doubt that SRI will sooner or later take root in Japan. …. As for SRI, every country has its own history, tradition, culture, religion, stage of economic development and various social values. The standards used in Europe and the US may not always apply to Japan, Asia, other parts of the world automatically. [How to adapt to the differences between countries] … is a very difficult point that requires a lot of attention and hard work."

Concluding the first panel session, Yulanda Chung summarised the findings of her research into the potential for SRI in Hong Kong Taiwan and China. "So far SRI has made very little progress in Asia, apart from Japan and Australia. But what I have found in the research is that there is a very promising market in China and Hong Kong - and SRI markets that hardly anyone has tapped into yet." Full copies of her reports are available to AsrIA members.