Small businesses are underserved in Pakistan but Telenor Microfinance Bank is hoping a deal with Chinese fintech giant Ant Financial will increase their access to electronic banking and help push up microfinance lending. Edward Russell-Walling reports.

State Bank of India is the country's leading state bank, while HDFC Bank is the leading private sector lender. Rekha Menon profiles the top five banks in each field to assess how they are operating within this notoriously difficult but potentially lucrative market.

Stung by a financial crisis in 2003, Myanmar has since taken a strict line on fiscal prudence but now observers fear this is curbing growth. Banks, both domestic and foreign, are lobbying for reforms to relax the rules on lending, as Peter Janssen reports.

The 2014 oil price drop saw Kazakhstan go from stellar success story to global underperformer. Bakhyt Sultanov, the country's deputy prime minister and minister of finance, talks to Adrienne Klasa about its comeback strategy, which includes major infrastructure investment and positioning itself as a regional trade hub. 

Renu Satti, CEO at the banking arm of India’s largest e-commerce platform, Paytm, tells Stefania Palma how it intends to achieve its ambitious growth plans.

Standard Chartered Bank’s chief information officer for India talks to Joy Macknight about using artificial intelligence and big data to uncover new business opportunities, as well as attracting tech talent in a highly competitive market.  

Private equity funds in Vietnam are proving themselves invaluable as more of the country’s state-owned enterprises are privatised. Peter Janssen reports.

Languishing down the development table, land-locked Laos is investing heavily in a joint venture to build a rail link between its capital and the Chinese border. Peter Janssen reports.

Bangladesh’s finance minister, Abul Maal Abdul Muhith, talks to Stefania Palma about the local banking sector, the current account deficit and government revenue, ahead of stepping down at the end of 2018, after a decade at the ministry.

Indebtedness to China has obliged Sri Lanka to hand over a major port to its financier. Is this an emerging pattern in Asia? Nikkei staff writer Yuji Kuronuma reports.