Asia 'can handle capital flight' TWO of the major banks' most senior Asia-based bankers have expressed confidence regional economies can withstand more capital flight when the US Federal Reserve starts winding back its massive stimulus program. As experts warn that the Fed will soon start tapering its $US85 billion ($94bn) a month of bond-buying, National Australia Bank head of Asia Spiro Pappas said the region had learnt the lessons of the Asian crisis in the late 1990s and was "much better equipped and positioned" to withstand any capital flight.