Risk and Capital Weekly Brief: Supervisory model changes cut SEB’s buffer by 120 basis points as lower Pillar 2A requirements cushion Barclays.

The world’s 1,000 largest banks expanded to $180.7 trillion in assets in FY2025, but cross-tabulation shows that better asset quality is most consistently associated with scale, while greater size does not correspond consistently with faster growth, higher returns or better efficiency.

I&M Bank received Best Retail Bank in Kenya and Best SME Bank in Kenya, recognising its customer growth, extensive digital engagement and wider range of banking services.

The annual assessment of 1,000 institutions highlights the combination of profitability, asset quality, capital and funding that underpins financial strength, while introducing sovereign risk into the scorecard.

The assessment of 100 Islamic banks highlights how leading institutions combine scale with earnings capacity, operating efficiency and financial resilience.

OCBC Group CEO Tan Teck Long sees regional knowledge, diversified earnings and customer trust as essential to navigating geopolitical uncertainty and technological disruption. The bank is seeking to reinforce these strengths through closer integration of its banking, wealth management and insurance businesses and greater use of artificial intelligence.

OCBC’s ranking as the world’s third strongest bank and the strongest in Singapore and Asia Pacific in the TAB Global 1000 World’s Strongest Banks 2026 reflects its diversified income, prudent balance sheet management and financial resilience.

The Asian Banker Weekly Brief: Investors are questioning whether AI infrastructure spending can deliver lasting returns, as funding conditions diverge across the companies building it and credit access draws scrutiny.

Sustainable Finance Weekly: Nature-risk reporting and carbon-price benchmarks are sharpening transition planning, but emerging-market sustainable-bond issuance fell 32% while advanced markets grew.

Financial Technology Weekly: Crédit Agricole expands AI agents and Santander reports lower model costs, while a Google Cloud London outage exposes banks’ shared infrastructure risks.

Research into autonomous AI and a demonstration of manipulated facial video exposed different challenges for banks during the third day of The Asian Banker Beijing AI Innovation Study Tour 2026. BAAI examined model evaluation and embodied intelligence, while Tencent showed how digital identity checks can be compromised and where additional controls may help.

TAB China Weekly Brief: The People's Bank of China outlines reforms to its policy-rate framework, corporate loan pricing and liquidity support, alongside plans to connect bond markets and widen offshore clearing banks’ access to onshore trading.

Bank of the Philippine Islands has named consumer banking chief Maria Cristina “Ginbee” Go as its next president and CEO, succeeding TG Limcaoco on 26 April 2027, subject to regulatory approvals. The transition follows five years of digital, financial inclusion and sustainability initiatives under Limcaoco, with Go set to lead the bank’s next phase of growth.

Financial Markets Weekly: Transaction Finance Weekly: Tokenisation enters core infrastructure as DTCC readies onboarding, Bank Negara Malaysia launches SSDS+ and issuers resist tokenised stock plans.

TAB Africa Weekly Brief: South Africa sets a November deadline for its payments authorisation framework as Banque du Caire opens IPO subscriptions and Nedbank advances its NCBA acquisition.