Siew Chan Cheong, group chief strategy and transformation officer at Maybank, discussed how the bank leverages digital innovation and strategic partnerships to enhance customer experience and drive sustainable growth.

The Middle East and Africa lead in bank profitability, benefiting from considerable non-interest-bearing deposits and elevated oil prices in the Middle East, along with high interest rates and foreign exchange gains in Africa, according to the TAB Global 1000 Strongest Banks Ranking.

The Global RMB Internationalisation Survey 2024 reveals that usage in cross-border trade has surged, accounting for over half of China’s cross-border payments. The results show high engagement from financial institutions and companies in RMB-based transactions, with notable growth in cross-border cash management, trade financing and investments.

Banks in Asia’s mature markets beat rising costs, deteriorating credit quality and higher interest rates, focusing on digital experiences, GenAI, green finance and fraud prevention

Transaction banks in Asia are rapidly advancing through innovation, adopting sustainable practices, and leveraging technology such as APIs and AI to streamline treasury and trade finance processes

While leading financial institutions are rapidly integrating GenAI into operations to enhance efficiency, challenges in model reliability, data integrity, and compliance hinder implementation and scalability.

North America and Asia Pacific banks maintain overall balance sheet strength over those in other regions, with the Middle East showing some improvements. Profitability among all 1000 banks improved, driven by higher interest rates, while asset quality indicators stayed stable.

While asset growth of world’s 1000 largest banks remained stable, loan and deposit growth slowed

Six major consortiums, led by industry giants from tech, retail, and finance, are competing to secure Thailand's first digital bank licences. As the country prepares for a significant shift in its financial landscape, the stakes have never been higher.

The global outage led by the CrowdStrike-Microsoft faulty software update underscores the emerging gaps in resilience, interdependence of systems, vendor concentration, and single points of failure in networks

DBS’ Business Advance+ card will streamline cross-border transactions, alongside its StartUp Movement to provide targeted financial and business support for small businesses in Singapore

Bank boards globally lack enough technology experts to influence strategy decisions, though North American banks are better at integrating such experts into their boards