OUP accepted manuscript

Globalizations, 2010

This paper argues that taking a short-term look at Malaysia's response to the financial crisis of 1997–1998 does not adequately assess the socio-economic transformation that was propagated by the crisis. Most importantly, it falls short of accounting for the shift from a bank-based to a capital market-based financial system that occurred in post-crisis Malaysia and the ensuing increasing financialisation of Malaysian capitalism. This shift has significantly affected both corporate and individual financial cultures and led to the emergence of a new politics of debt. It coincides with rising levels of household indebtedness. Moreover, it has set in motion a metamorphosis of the institutions set up to govern Malaysian capitalism.

An ethnographic examination of the day-today networking sociality of financial elites in Malaysia, Singapore, and Hong Kong shows that, in line with ethnographic studies of core country elites, the subjectivities inculcated among hedge fund managers show racial and class cleavages, but in fund managers' work, bridging capital structures takes primacy, while bridging structures of privilege remains unacknowledged and thus provides an advantage to those who display conspicuously cosmopolitan consumption and networking sociality. Simultaneously, fund managers' pervasive ascription of objectivity to a perspective associated with white masculinity creates a structural disadvantage for women, racialized others, and those lacking training or networking capacity in core countries. Journal of International and Global Studies 48

In response to the limited engagement with critical social science concerning the governance of Islamic banking and finance (IBF), this paper compares and conceptualizes the development and governance of IBF in Malaysia and Singapore. We argue that IBF governance in Malaysia and Singapore can be distinguished on the basis of ethnic politics, moral suasion, product demand, product innovation, and the character of state practices. Concerning the latter, we contend that the political economy of both countries can be characterized as broadly involving a 'neoliberaldevelopmentalism', but we nuance this by positing a transition in Malaysia from a 'semi-developmentalism' in the 1980s to what we call an 'Islamic and internationalising ordoliberalism' beginning in the 2000s. In turn, the governance of IBF in Singapore involves a combination of neoliberal developmentalism, which nonetheless also entails some form of Islamic ordoliberalism.

Economic Anthropology, 2018

The aftermath of the Asian financial crisis of 1997–98 witnessed a significant transformation of the financial systems of the Southeast Asia region. It saw the ascendance of capital markets in financial systems that had traditionally relied on bank loans and other sorts of so-called relationship finance. This emergence of capital markets was by design rather than the spontaneous and natural result of their evolving market orders as policymakers shifted from planning for outcomes to planning for uncertainty. A financialized version of capital market development, conceptualized here as situated knowledge practice, has manifested itself in increasingly spectacular financial designs. The article explores two sites of the circulation of new financial knowledge: the dramatic performances of financial knowledge at (Islamic) capital market conferences and the new urban designs where financial knowledge is put to work. The analysis is informed by observations from Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, and Singapore.

The Copenhagen Journal of Asian Studies

This article describes and explains the evolution of Malaysia's locally owned banks in a series of mergers and acquisitions within national borders and beyond. It argues that state intervention, external economic and financial crises and the liberalization of the financial sector have compelled the consolidation of local banks in Malaysia. The consolidation process has resulted in the increased size of state-owned banks, decreased the number of local Chinese-owned banks and seen a decline in family shareholding in the remaining Chinese-controlled banks. Through regional expansion both Chinese-controlled and stateowned operations have become large-scale regionally based banking groups or global banks, deepening the financial integration in ASEAN countries.

2018

Atalay examines the conflict between legitimacy and legality, focusing on the ethnography study of actors and institutions in the financial field in Turkey. ‘Predatory acts’ by the banks are made legal through state’s regulations but are seen as illegitimate by ordinary citizens. First, she discusses the relationship between legality and legitimacy in the context of financialization. Then, she examines the financialization process in Turkey with reference to actors and state, followed by a summary of her ethnography on the financial citizenship practices. Atalay’s ethnography questions why financialization erodes legitimacy. Power relations between banks and the state became more visible. Inclusion and exclusion mechanisms have tightened. Also, the legislation itself created the crisis and increased the distance between citizens and the state.

2011

The currency trader as 'messiah' in Jamaican financial discourses 1 Short Paper The 7 th International Critical Management Conference "The currency trader as 'messiah' in Jamaican financial discourses -Financialisation in an emerging economy" STREAM -FINANCIALISATION: A MEANINGFUL NEW 'IZATION'

While a significant amount of attention has been paid in scholarly work to the modes of acquisition of citizenship at birth, either through territorial attachments (ius soli) or descent (ius sanguinis), far less consideration has been given to the acquisition of citizenship after birth (ius nexi). Even if the notion of ius nexi encapsulates a variety of modes for the acquisition of citizenship through connection to the host state, the one that has recently gained salience in the context of the preferential naturalisation of investors is that of ius pecuniae – i.e., citizenship acquisition driven by money. Although setting a price tag on membership in a community is intuitively disquieting, there has hitherto been little discussion as to why this might be the case. The primary goal of this article is to set out three sets of criteria against which the different mechanisms of preferential naturalisation of investors can be evaluated. Deploying a critique of the notion of “genuine ties”, we first examine whether the economic utility of the investment to the state can suffice to override some or all other criteria for naturalisation. Then, we look at the preferential treatment of investors in the context of merit-based naturalisation. Finally, we examine how the investment-based ius pecuniae affects the relationship between the members of the polity and naturalised investors and between naturalised investors and other applicants subject to ordinary naturalisation. The analysis suggests that even though all these criteria have pitfalls, the principle that citizenship should instantiate a claim of equality best explains why we are uncomfortable with the idea of selling citizenship.

The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, 2002

This study explores the impact of changes occurring in financial markets on national sovereignty. Sovereignty involves both the authority to rule and the capacity to exercise this rule. Changes now occurring in financial markets and their most important institution, banks, present challenges to sovereignty. Domestic challenges include consolidation, conglomeration, automation, reduction of government banking, disintermediation, and the development of risk transfer markets and mechanisms. International challenges include freeing capital inflows and outflows, foreign control of financial service institutions, regional and supranational economic integration, and the abandonment of national currencies. These often create a web of obligations that may compromise national sovereignty. While sovereignty may not be viewed as absolute in terms of national priorities, and may be in a constant state of negotiation, it is a measure of national strength. Its infringement may produce resentments and dissatisfactions among international agents and within national political structure and render a toll on national growth and development.