Singapore's big three lenders may still be dominating the top positions in the Association of South-east Asian Nations ranking by Tier 1 capital by a considerable margin, but Thai and Malaysian banks now occupy six of the top 10 spots, while Indonesia's institutions are recording the region's strongest profitability ratios.

Singaporean banks continue to dominate the rankings for the Association of South-east Asian Nations (Asean) region, both in terms of Tier 1 capital and profitability. Singapore-based DBS Bank tops the ranking, with $21.17bn of Tier 1 capital, making it the 58th largest lender in the world according to The Banker’s Top 1000 World Banks 2012 ranking. It is followed by two other Singaporean lenders, Overseas Chinese Banking Corporation (OCBC) and United Overseas Bank (UOB), which have $14.31bn and $13.85bn of Tier 1 capital and rank 84th and 85th in the world, respectively.

These three institutions also topped the Asean rankings in terms of pre-tax profits. Again, DBS Bank was the leader, posting pre-tax profits of $2.87bn for the year-end 2011. OCBC was second with pre-tax profits of $2.27bn, followed by UOB with $2.16bn. When the data for these banks is aggregated, however, the figures are not as impressive. Although the three Singapore-based institutions recorded asset growth of 17% between 2010 and 2011, pre-tax profit actually declined by 0.1%.

Singapore profit shortfall

Singapore-based banks account for 28% of all assets in the Asean region. This is a healthy share of assets, but when compared to the total profits in the region they fall short. The aggregated pre-tax profits of Singaporean banks only account for 19% of the total profits in the region.

The figures from Indonesia are more striking. The country's 41 banks account for just 15% of the total banking assets in the Asean region but they account for 25% of the total profits. The figures from Malaysian and Thai banks show a more even balance between asset and profit share. Malaysian banks account for 28% of the total assets in Asean and 27% of profits in the region. Thailand’s banks account for 18% of both assets and profits

Although it is the Singaporean banks that are posting the strongest figures in the region, banks from these other markets – Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand – are challenging Singapore’s dominance in Asean. In the main rankings, which are based on Tier 1 capital, Malaysia’s Maybank is in fourth place with a Tier 1 capital of $9.74bn. It is followed by Thailand’s Bangkok Bank in fifth, which has Tier 1 capital of $5.81bn. Other Malaysian and Thai banks – Public Bank, CIMB Group, Siam Commercial Bank and Kasikornbank – also feature in the Top 10.

Indonesia gaining ground

Bank Mandiri is the only Indonesian bank to rank in the top 10 by Tier 1 capital. It is ranked seventh with $5.09bn of Tier 1 capital. The bank also features in the top 10 by three other indicators. It is ranked sixth in terms of Tier 1 capital change, with a 63.17% increase. It is the sixth best performing bank in Asean in terms of pre-tax profits, recording $1.82bn of profit, and it is 10th in terms of return on capital with 35.78%. 

Indonesian banks together posted the second highest asset growth in the region with aggregated asset growth of 21%. The country's banks also recorded the highest change in Tier 1 capital in Asean, with 29% growth. In terms of individual banks, the largest Tier 1 capital change was recorded by Malaysia Building Society, which saw growth of 232%. This was followed by HSBC Indonesia, which witnessed an 80% increase in Tier 1 capital.

Indonesian banks also posted the highest return on capital in the region, with 31%. Bank Rakyat Indonesia posted the highest return on capital in Asean with 59.6%. It was followed by another Indonesian institution, Deutsche Bank Indonesia, which posted 55.76%.

PLEASE ENTER YOUR DETAILS TO WATCH THIS VIDEO

All fields are mandatory

The Banker is a service from the Financial Times. The Financial Times Ltd takes your privacy seriously.

Choose how you want us to contact you.

Invites and Offers from The Banker

Receive exclusive personalised event invitations, carefully curated offers and promotions from The Banker



For more information about how we use your data, please refer to our privacy and cookie policies.

Terms and conditions

Join our community

The Banker on Twitter