Retail banking sector has been the main growth driver for Indian banking sector during the past few years, as banks’ exposure to corporate banking sector has been reduced due to bad loans problems. Their retail lending has grown at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 16.2% over the FY2013 to FY2018 period, making India's retail banking one of the biggest among emerging markets.

Chinese banks’ mortgage loan growth dropped the most in 2017 and will continue to be affected by property cooling measures and relatively tight liquidity conditions. Hong Kong banks’ mortgage loan growth, on the other hand, increased, but they are not expected to maintain it due to tough operating conditions.

The push for climate change considerations puts pressure on financial services companies to develop and use advanced technologies such as blockchain that promises improved governance.

A year after Hong Kong issued eight digital banking licences, Mox and ZA Bank have emerged as the early leaders. Together with WeLab, the three banks account for 86% of all virtual banking deposit in Hong Kong.

As demand for sustainable products rises, stakeholders including consumers, investors, and regulators are pushing manufacturers, suppliers and lenders to incorporate ESG metrics in evaluating the performance of their supply chains.

While the growth of Alibaba and Alipay as well as Tencent and WeChat pay in China is well known, there have been questions about whether a similar model can succeed outside of China. Local players as well as those Chinese giants themselves are starting to show that a super-app may well succeed in other markets in Asia too.

The Asian Banker recently updated the bank profile of Asia Commercial Bank. The bank is focused on boosting its competitiveness in the Vietnamese market.

The Asian Banker recently updated the bank profile of Vietnam Eximbank.

China Merchants Bank and China CITIC Bank are developing their credit card businesses to stimulate retail income.

Despite current economic challenges, Vietnam’s banking sector has promising longer term potential due to its relatively young and increasingly affluent population.

The contribution of consumer finance to the overall retail loans in Asia Pacific in 2015 ranged from 2% to 56%. Its share to retail loans has increased in markets like Indonesia but has declined in Hong Kong and Thailand. The growth of consumer finance per country also varied, slowing down in Taiwan and growing faster in the Philippines.

While crowdlending in Asia Pacific shows early promise, its fate will be dictated by how regulators and banks respond to the challenges they pose.

State enterprises form one of the largest customer segments of Krung Thai Bank. But this does not confine the bank, as it enters the nongovernment retail deposit market driven by a mix of competitive pricing and products, process innovation, and a strong branch network.

Formal financial institutions have connected only 22% of the Indonesian population. A huge potential for the financial sector still needs to be explored, and digitised lending, which combines retail banking with financial technology, should be a future solution.

Banks have not experienced a significant deterioration in asset quality of their MSME exposure, supported by various policy measures. An uptick in the non-performing small business loans is expected with the expiry of these measures.

Softening bank loan growth in some markets but Asia Pacific expected to sustain momentum in 2023 with post-COVID-19 recovery in China boosting lending demand

With a large portion of Africa’s population still lacking access to traditional banking services, particularly in places banks fear to tread, payment providers have stepped into the breach, gaining in popularity for offering services beyond the usual payments, money transfer and savings

Thirty-seven banks held assets surpassing $1 trillion, distributed among 16 in Asia Pacific, 13 in Europe, and eight in North America, representing 51% of the top 1000 banks’ total assets; overall asset growth has decelerated, with the US and some European nations experiencing steep declines and countries like Egypt demonstrating resilience

Philippine digital banks saw rapid growth in 2023 alongside mounting concerns over credit quality as gross NPL ratios soared