Does Europe even matter to Asian companies?

For all the chatter in the global press about the eurozone crisis, there has always been a sense that the region’s continuing problems only have a passing impact on Asian companies. A new report from Moody’s now puts some numerical heft behind that suspicion.

In its recent report, the agency analysed the finances of all the listed Asian companies that it currently rates, and found that 95% of them will remain resilient “in the face of a looming EU recession”. The two main areas in which EU weakness could affect Asian companies are in demand for exports and in financing from EU banks. In both these areas, Asian companies are...