Bangladesh has achieved significant progress towards financial inclusion with a strong focus on 'Digital Bangladesh', to deliver service using technology. The recent developments in the country’s financial sector, the diversified tradition of credit and microfinance, and widespread acceptance of digital finance and mobile financial services (MFS) are recognised worldwide.

泓湖百世全球家族办公室和亚洲银行家近期发布的白皮书《家族财富管理与家族办公室行业洞察白皮书——全球视野，中国情怀》中显示，继承计划对于财富的代际转移至关重要。然而，大多数家庭并没有为财富的代际转移做好准备或计划，导致需要传承的财富或家族价值部分甚至全部丧失。

Vincent Magnenat, Limited Partner and CEO for Asia at Lombard Odier shared how as a seven-generation family business, the 225-year old institution continues to drive innovation in the wealth management industry with tailored offerings for global clients and partnerships with local incumbents to deepen its presence in the region.

Africa represents a large growth opportunity for buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) service providers. With increased digitisation and smartphone penetration across the region, customers are searching for new innovative solutions to make their purchases conveniently with alternative financing options.

With increased flexibility, cost effectiveness, and overall performance, moving digital infrastructure to the cloud is slowly becoming best practice for enterprises. This has been hastened by digital transformation, but the rush to online and cloud-based activities has left some businesses without a defined strategy for their IT monitoring solutions, resulting in cloud outages.

DBS Bank (DBS), Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation (OCBC) and United Overseas Bank (UOB) gained strong financial results in financial year 2021 as the operating environment and business confidence in Singapore improved.

The increased use of the renminbi for international payments and investments in China’s capital markets by foreign investors, has seen demand and value of the currency rise steadily in the past year. Will the Russia-Ukraine crisis accelerate the foreign holdings of the RMB as a potential safe-haven asset?

Qatar Islamic Bank is the most efficient bank in the Middle East and Africa, emerging first among the largest 100 banks in the MEA 200 rankings in 2021. Notably, five of the 10 banks on the list are Qatar banks due to their emphasis on digital transformation.

A whitepaper just released by Honghu Best Global Family Office and The Asian Banker, "Global Family Office and Wealth Management Best Practices 2021 - Global Perspectives, Chinese Flair" reveals that succession planning is critical to intergenerational wealth transfer. However, most families do not prepare or plan for a smooth transition, leading to the partial or even full loss of wealth or family values that need to be passed on.

As escalating shipping freight costs and geo-political developments disrupt supply chains in 2022, companies are increasing their share of local sourcing and diversifying supplier base to minimise impact.

With market participants anticipating a hike in rates soon, will the good old days of wider NIMs come back? Not necessarily as the difference in the maturity of assets/loans versus liabilities/deposits primarily determines the direction and size of the spread between interest income and cost.

The ability to innovate and evolve into the more agile, analytical, customer-centric, and profitable financial services organisation (FSO) of tomorrow hinges on all manner of questions.

The COVID pandemic has accelerated the adoption of digital transactions and mobile payments, including the use of digital cards. With enhanced security and ease of use, they have become part of consumers’ daily life. Financial institutions must consider how to enhance their mobile payment offerings to remain relevant to this changing consumer behaviour.

As the West announces sanctions over Russia’s actions in Ukraine, global supply chains, particularly related to energy and commodities from the country, will be further impacted.

Despite widespread media reporting of US and Western sanctions on seven Russian banks, SWIFT has yet to disconnect any of them from its network. It will do so on 12 March after it received legal instruction in pursuant of EU Council Regulation (EU) 2022/345 of 1 March 2022.