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Top 100 Asean banks ranking, 2014: Small countries, big growth

The relatively small economies of Vietnam and Cambodia are punching above their weight in terms of growth in The Banker’s latest Association of South-east Asian Nations ranking. Meanwhile, Singapore’s banks retain their dominance in the ranking in terms of Tier 1 capital. 
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Top 100 Asean banks ranking, 2014: Small countries, big growth

The smaller economies of the Association of South-east Asian Nations (Asean) are starting to make their mark in The Banker’s top Asean banks ranking. At least, if not in the main table, in some of the subsidiary tables such as those for Tier 1 growth, return on capital and return on assets.

Vietnam accounts for only 6% of total Tier 1 capital and assets in the ranking and Cambodia for a meagre 0.19% of assets and 0.29% of Tier 1 capital. This is tiny compared to the shares of the heavyweights – for example, in asset terms Singapore has 29%, Malaysia 23% and Thailand 22% and in Tier 1 capital terms Singapore has 29%, while Malaysia and Thailand both have about 20%.

But from a small base Vietnam and Cambodia are growing fast. Five Vietnamese banks and a Cambodian bank figure in the top 10 Tier 1 growth table.

Vietnam’s winners

Vietnam’s Baoviet Bank comes top with a near 99% uplift even though the bank only ranks 34th in the Vietnam country ranking and 143rd overall (for space purposes we have only printed the top 100). HD Bank places fourth in terms of growth in Tier 1 capital, with an increase of 64% and the three other Vietnamese banks in this table, all with Tier 1 growth of more than 50%, are Vietcombank – which places 27th in the overall ranking and is the largest bank in Vietnam – Saigon Hanoi Bank and PG Bank. Cambodia’s Canadia Bank comes eighth in the Top 10 Tier 1 growth table and 114th overall.

Baoviet Bank also tops the Top 10 return on assets table with a 9.15% return, while Acleda Bank of Cambodia is in fourth place with 4.13% return. Other strong players in this ranking are Indonesia’s Bank Rakyat in second place (12th overall) and Bank BTPN in third place (66th overall) both with more than 4% return on assets.

Acleda Bank also places third in the top 10 return on capital ranking, while Canadia Bank comes sixth in the top 10 cost-to-income table with a ratio of 24% and Cambodian Public Bank comes fourth with a just slightly better ratio of 23%.

Singapore’s big hitters

Singapore’s big three players – DBS, Oversea Chinese Banking Corporation (OCBC) and United Overseas Bank – still dominate the ranking in the first three places. Together Singaporean banks saw a 45% increase in pre-tax profits.

To give an idea of the overall size differences between banks in the Asean ranking, DBS in first position has $24.67bn of Tier 1 capital; Malaysia’s Maybank in fourth place has roughly half that amount at $12.61bn; and Malaysia’s Public Bank in fifth place has roughly half of Maybank’s capital with $6.68bn. Malaysia’s banks recorded 17% profits growth overall and a table of top 10 pre-tax profits by bank has the same top four players as the main ranking in a slightly different order – OCBC, DBS, United Overseas Bank and Maybank – suggesting that in Asean, the major banks in capital terms are also highly profitable.

The trend for several years now has been for the leading Singaporean and Malaysian banks to move outside their home countries and invest across the region. This now shows itself in the ranking with Malaysia’s CIMB in 10th place for its domestic operations, 26th place for its Indonesian venture and 71st with its Thai venture. Similarly OCBC’s Malaysian arm places 30th and its Indonesian arm 55th.

The Philippines is performing below expectations in regional terms with only about 6% to 8% of assets, Tier 1 and profits. But profits are advancing rapidly with a 33% increase for the country as a whole. The Philippines’ highest ranked bank is BDO Unibank at 18th, followed by Metropolitan Bank & Trust Company at 23rd and Bank of the Philippine Islands at 25th.

For several years now, Indonesian banks have stood out both regionally and globally in terms of their returns and this remains the case. Their aggregate return on capital at 30% was the highest in Asean and their aggregate return on assets at 2.86% was second only to Cambodia’s. Indonesia has four banks in the top 20 overall led by Bank Mandiri in ninth place with $5.36bn of Tier 1 followed by Bank Rakyat in 12th position, Bank Central Asia at 13th and Bank Negara Indonesia 14th.

Top Asean banks ranking

The Banker's Top 100 Asean banks ranking, 2014 originally appeared in the April 2014 issue of the magazine. The full results of the ranking are available on The Banker Database. Find out more about the database, register for a free trial or subscribe today.

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