There might not be much movement among the top positions in this year’s Top 100 Association of South-East Asian Nations Banks ranking, but Filipino lenders are on the rise, while Indonesia’s banks boast the highest returns. 

Already on the way to recovery after a crisis in 2012, Vietnam’s banks now face further challenges in the shape of the increased competition that integration of the Asean Economic Community will bring about.

Much progress has already been made in Myanmar's financial markets since the country's liberalisation in 2011, and now it is on the brink of refining its banking laws and establishing the Yangon Stock Exchange.

The governor of the Bank of Thailand, Prasarn Trairatvorakul, has seen the country's banking sector show remarkable resilience over the past few years. However, he is now looking for its lenders to expand their services into neighbouring countries, as well as offer more sophisticated products at home.

Cross-border expansion has become a key source of growth for many of Thailand's banks, which are well positioned to take advantage of opportunities in neighbouring Myanmar and Laos, both of which are at the start of what is expected to be a huge banking growth curve.