Indonesia’s banks are going back into private hands as the government continues with its economic reform plans, despite the huge post-tsunami rebuilding task it faces. Simon Montlake reports on progress.

Kazakhstan’s spectacular financial boom is beginning to attract the attention of European banks, reports Christopher Pala from Almaty.
European banks have long perceived Kazakhstan, the largest after Russia of the former Soviet republics, as “too far, too small, too risky”. Five times the size of France with its economic capital, Almaty, close to the Chinese border and as far from Paris as Paris is from New York, Kazakhstan’s population is only 15 million: a small market spread over a huge area, ruled by an authoritarian president unwilling to make the transition to democracy.

Kong Jaw-sheng, the first chairman of Taiwan’s new Financial Supervisory Commission, talks to Dennis Engbarth about its early days and its future priorities.

governor, China Merchants Bank
Chinese bankers are often low-key state-employed bureaucrats whose names are rarely known outside the industry. One exception is Ma Weihua, president of the small but highly regarded China Merchants Bank (CMB).

general manager and head of corporate lending, Bank of East Asia
If Adrian Li, 31, succeeds his father David Li as head of the Bank of East Asia, as widely expected, it would be another milestone for the Li family, which founded the bank in 1918 in Hong Kong.

executive director, ICICI Bank
When Chanda Kochhar was picked four years ago to spearhead the thrust into retail banking at ICICI Bank – India’s second largest bank – sceptics doubted her ability to play hardball in a tough business. Ms Kochhar, 43, proved them wrong.

CEO, CIMB
Malaysia is in the process of drastically reducing the number of its banks, leaving more people with recent or current CEO experience than there are banks.

Pakistan’s banks have been facing up to privatisation and anti-money laundering measures and there are more challenges ahead. Farhan Bokhari reports from Karachi.

The economy is thriving and banks’ performances reflect this, but president Chen Shui-bian faces political difficulties in promoting the next phase of financial reform, writes Dennis Engbarth in Taipei.