On almost every measure, Asian banks look far less ravaged than western peers. They generally did not load up on the high-yielding bonds with high ratings that so mesmerised western lenders. Meanwhile, Asia never really developed a huge phantom banking system to spook the real one. Capital injections since the crisis began amount to less than 8 per cent of the global total, or $68bn – versus aggregate writedowns of $29bn (3 per cent).

While Western governments have scrambled to recapitalise lenders while patching up the basic infrastructure of credit markets, Asia can afford a more leisurely approach. The region has seen no big bail-outs; just various deposit guarantees and the creation of state-run funds for banks to tap, should they need it. Australia and Korea, with the two biggest wholesale funding exposures, have guaranteed bank borrowings. Only in Korea and Japan have governments started to pluck problem assets from balance sheets.

But Asia can hardly relax. Given that the sharp regional slowdown did not start until mid-November, year-end results capture only a fraction of the impact. This is a crisis of globalisation: the more a nation depends on external demand, the harder it hurts. In at least half a dozen Asian countries real output should contract in 2009. Any big exposures to electronics, cars, transport or tourism will strain equity bases, while weaker currencies (won, rupiah) will worsen overseas debt burdens.