Cathay United Bank strengthens cross-border finance through regional expertise, delivering structured lending, sustainable deals and liquidity solutions that support clients’ expansion across Asia’s evolving markets.

The IMF's Spring 2026 publications find banks well-capitalised and liquid, but the fiscal and financial environment around them is materially more constrained than in prior cycles. This disruption in the Strait of Hormuz is unfolding against a backdrop of depleted policy space, with global public debt nearing historic wartime highs.

Asia Pacific remains the world's least profitable banking region, but a group of small emerging-market banks with assets below $50 billion are delivering outsized returns.

From Deutsche Bank’s perspective, beyond borders financing in frontier markets depends on following client-led trade corridors, financing strategic goods and distributing risk through local banks, insurers and multilaterals.

Standard Chartered announced in its results that it has achieved its RoTE milestone a year ahead of schedule. The Fit for Growth programme has already delivered $754 million in run-rate savings, and as the programme draws towards its final year, Brian O'Neill, global head of group transformation, explains why the real challenge is not execution but sustaining the discipline, culture and risk framework that enabled it.

Nedbank’s strategic shift to a mobile-first approach has transformed its operations, boosting customer engagement, acquisition and operational efficiency. By reducing reliance on physical branches, the bank has built a more accessible, convenient and digitally integrated banking experience.

Habtamu Eticha, manager of non-financial services and SME banking division at Awash Bank, discusses how the Ethiopian lender is repositioning its MSME model by integrating capability building and risk management to better align financing with underlying business performance.

Wang Xiang, founder and chairman of FoFund, set out how the firm has developed as a technology-led institutional platform serving China’s financial institutions through fund trading, research support, operating tools and selected cross-border capabilities.

Bank Central Asia continues to deliver one of the strongest combinations of profitability, efficiency and funding quality in Indonesia, even as the operating environment becomes more difficult. In the conversation with Hendra Lembong, president director of BCA, the focus shifts from headline financial strength to the practical issues now shaping the bank’s next phase of growth: capital market sentiment, wholesale banking, ecosystem expansion, artificial intelligence, customer experience and the intensifying competitive pressure from other large domestic banks.

A correlation analysis across 100 global retail banks in FY25 finds a weak but statistically significant negative relationship between asset size and return on assets. Regional leaders demonstrate that specific business model choices, not balance sheet scale, drive superior profitability.

MUFG Bank is developing its transaction banking franchise in Asia Pacific through a coordinated model that combines local execution, regional control and cross-border connectivity, but the extent to which it can translate this into a scalable, flow-driven business remains a defining question.

Standard Chartered is positioning its transaction banking business in ASEAN around rising intra-Asia flows, fragmented liquidity structures and the growing role of platforms, digital infrastructure and new forms of money.

This year's TAB Global Excellence in Retail Financial Services Awards 2026 reveals three forces reshaping retail banking in ways that go beyond the interest rate cycle: the compression of spread-based income and the drive to diversify revenue; a fundamental reappraisal of the deposit franchise; and the deepening integration of artificial intelligence across banking operations and client engagement.

BIDV receives dual recognition at the TAB Global Excellence in Retail Finance Awards 2026, reaffirming its position as the leading retail bank in Vietnam and highlighting its innovative approach to digital banking with a standout deposit product in the Asia Pacific region.

Bank of New York Mellon reported record revenue and net income in 2025, driven by growth in fee and interest income, operational leverage and platform-based initiatives. Chief executive officer Robin Vince and chief financial officer Dermot McDonogh highlighted a continued focus on higher-margin growth, digital transformation and strategic client base expansion.