Twilight for Asian distressed prop desks?

It was a golden age for Asian distressed-asset prop desks in banks between 2000 and 2002. Times aren't so good these days. Distressed deals are few and far between in Asia. On the contrary, industry and commerce in the region is doing pretty well, thanks to low interest rates and growing markets. In the noughties, all the banks had a special-situations group investing their own capital and receiving a chunk of the balance sheet. That balance-sheet allocation has since been taken away …